Six sails at Sibsey

click photo to enlarge
The other day, when speaking about the eight sailed Heckington windmill, I mentioned the 6-sailer that is Sibsey Trader Mill. I suggested that six sails is less visually satisfying than four or five but better than eight. On our recent visit to Skegness we came home via Sibsey and stopped in at the mill for a cup of tea. And in so doing, I took the opportunity to check whether another viewing would confirm my judgement. It did.

Now that's not to say that there isn't plenty of interest in a windmill, regardless of the number of its sails: there clearly is, both outside and inside. On this particular occasion my photographs of the windmill in its setting were less than satisfactory due to the blank blue sky and the scatter of colourful cars parked at the base of the mill. However, I took a few detail photographs and here are a couple. The shot of the sails, cap and fantail is one that I often take when I visit a windmill. It shows off the intricate woodwork and metal work and fills the frame nicely. The other shot was one that I noticed when we climbed up and down the ladders that connect the several floors. It brought together, so I thought, two themes that I often return to in my photography - window views and shadows. Incidentally I extend my apologies for the tongue-twister title of this post.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 66mm (99mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/160 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Skidby windmill and goggi geeha!

click photo to enlarge
Ever since I first lived on the eastern side of our island I've had an interest in windmills. These buildings (or are they machines?) are distinctive, picturesque, fascinating in their technology and intricacies, and often quite beautiful. The first windmill that I had any sort of familiarity with was the one at Skidby in East Yorkshire. When I lived in that part of the world I often walked or cycled in the vicinity of the distinctive four-sailer on its hill-top site. Its black tower and white ogee cap and sails were a useful landmark as we made our way round the lanes and field paths of the Yorkshire Wolds near Hull.

I've been back to Skidby windmill since we left that part of the country, and I posted a photograph of it in 2006. We visited it again a while ago and had a look round the small museum-cum-visitor centre that has been established in the surrounding buildings and the lower floor of the mill. Unfortunately, on the day we called in we were unable to climb to the other floors. However, that didn't matter because only a few days earlier we'd been up and down the ladders of Sibsey Trader Mill (also a windmill) near Boston. We'd gone there so that my grand-daughter could see the home of "Baby Jake". When my children were small I knew about most of the TV programmes they watched, the characters, the story lines, etc. But now, at my great age, I am ignorant of such things so I had to be enlightened about this epic of toddlers' TV. I won't bore you with the details - this link summarises the show and this one will tell you much more than you will ever want to know. Suffice to say that a modified version of the windmill at Sibsey serves as the home of the baby, his brothers, sisters and his parents, and so is an obvious place of pilgrimage if you are a fan of "Baby Jake" and almost two years old.

This six-sailer is a fine example of the tower mill. It's a relatively late example too, being built in 1877. It gets its name from the Trader (or west Fen) Drain that it overlooks. It worked by wind until 1953 when it was abandoned. The structure was saved in 1970 and restored in 1981. It is now in the care of English Heritage. I took a few photographs on my recent visit though none so good as this one that I posted in 2011.

Goggi geeha to one and all!

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 24mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Sibsey Trader Mill

click photo to enlarge

Lincolnshire was, and still is, a land of windmills. More than one hundred towers remain standing, in various states of repair, sentinels reminding us of a time before electricity and the internal combustion engine, when wind power was harnessed to the cause of milling grain. Enthusiasts have restored a number of these mills to working condition, and charities and the energy of volunteers keep quite a few open to the public. The other day I visted such a windmill, managed by English Heritage, at the village of Sibsey a few miles north-east of Boston.

The Sibsey Trader Mill was built in 1877 by Saunderson of Louth to replace a small post-mill. It is a striking building, one of the few remaining 6-sail English mills, measuring 74 feet to the top of its cap, with six floors. In the flat landscape it looks taller than it is, and compared to many it is of only average height. The mill was used commercially until 1954 by which time it was operated with four sails. After it closed it became derelict. However, in 1971 it was taken into the care of the Department of the Environment and restored to static condition. In 1981 further work restored it to working condition. Today visitors can see the complete process of milling and can buy bags of the stone-ground wholemeal flour. We did so and found that bread made with it was of a "smoother" consistency than that made with most commercially supplied brands.

I enjoy photographing windmills, not only for the beauty of the part building/part machine structure, but because they offer so many different possibilities for an image. On this occasion I decided to set the building in its landscape and let it be seen against the soft winter sky. For other photographic approaches to Lincolnshire windmills see these images of Heckington, Heckington again, Maud Foster, Boston, Burgh le Marsh, and Moulton. For a wider collection of my windmill images from across the country, click here.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 70mm
F No: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On