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Sails back on popular windmill after four years

John Bray
BBC News, Chesterton Windmill
Damien Walmsley A windmill on a hill during an early morning sunrise.Damien Walmsley
Photographer Damien Walmsley was quick off the mark to catch the first sunrise on Thursday after the new sails had been hoisted into place

The wait is finally over for lovers of a hugely popular windmill which has spent four years without any sails.

Chesterton Windmill has sat on a hill in Warwickshire for nearly 400 years, but its sails were removed in 2021 after cracks appeared in the wood.

Now a specialist conservation team have finished the installation of new sails after spending five days at the site, near Royal Leamington Spa.

Owlsworth Conservation, which is based near Reading in Berkshire, started work on building the new sails towards the end of last year.

The four sails in position on the round windmill, set against a blue sky with clouds.
The tower, which can be seen from the M40 motorway near Warwick Services, is situated just off the Fosse Way
Four white sails in position on a round windmill, with arches at the foot of it.
The windmill is one of the most photographed landmarks in the West Midlands, with more than 15,000 images on Instagram

Ayub Khan, Warwickshire County Council's Head of Heritage and Culture, said: "It means a lot to local people, not just in Warwickshire, but across the Midlands.

"Heritage and culture is so important to our sense of belonging here.

"We are so lucky to have heritage sites like this windmill here."

A round windmill with arches underneath it stands on a grassy hill on the horizon as the sun starts to set
Millwright Paul Sellwood, who led the team on the project, said it was a "great buzz" to restore the sails, and a steady stream of visitors were at the site on Wednesday evening as the sun began to fade
Two men in a red hoist attaching the white stocks to the round stone windmill
The installation team had the use of a hoist, but most of the work on the stocks and sails was completed with ropes and pulleys
The white windmill sails lay on the ground below the round windmill, before being hoisted into position. There are two people stood on a hoist that is elevated alongside the windmill.
Chesterton Windmill is both a Grade I listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is one of only four windmills in England with this classification

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