Mills & Windmills

Across the wide open panorama of the Fens, church towers and windmills stand majestically as landmarks for the traveller for miles around. Towering through the early morning mist, or silhouetted against the setting sun, they are testaments to over a thousand years of history.

In the past wind pumps were used to drain the Fens and maintain water levels. There are various small windmills in the area, which unfortunately are no longer functional, but are still up right for visitors to marvel at.

The Fen Landscape was once dominated by up to seven hundred windmills, built in timber or brick to drain the land or mill the corn. Many have since disappeared, but some still survive, towering over the Fens. Today there are some fine examples still in working order. Some mills are open all year whilst others open to the public on special milling days when you have the opportunity to look round the windmill and purchase freshly milled flour.

Maud Foster Mill, Boston, Lincolnshire
Maud Foster Windmill is one of the finest windmills in England. You can climb all seven floors and watch the milling process in action (weather permitting); the magnificent mill was built in 1819 and still earns it keep grinding organic stoneground by wind power.

Open all year:
Saturdays   11.00 am – 5.00 pm
Sunday’s   12.00 noon – 5.00 pm
Wednesdays   10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Bank Holidays  10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Extra Days July August:
Thursdays   11.00 am – 5.00 pm
Fridays   11.00 am – 5.00 pm

Denver Windmill, Nr Downham Market, Norfolk
Grinding flour since 1835, Denver Windmill is a wonderful working windmill set on the edge of the fens in rural Norfolk. Denver Mill provides guided tours, a visitor’s centre, a windmill video show, craft workshops, and a bakery and teashop.
www.denvermill.co.uk

Open seven days a week 10.00am - 5.00pm.

Moulton Mill, Spalding, Lincolnshire
Moulton Mill
Living History from 1822

Escape for the day to England’s tallest mill, complete with a visitors centre and gift shop. Disabled access with CCTV links to all floors. Home cooked cakes and light snakes available in the Granary Tearoom.  Restored in 2005, with the sails due to be added in spring 2008. Fens’s tourism provided part funding so that the mill restoration project could be enhanced.

Open All Year:
Thursday – Sunday   10.00 am – 4.00 pm
Monday – Wednesday  by prior appointment.

Six Sails Mill, Sibsey,
Boston, Lincolnshire

A wonderful working six sail windmill set on the edge of the Fens, with a newly refurbished tearoom serving fayre produced from the mill including cream cakes and light meals.

Open All Year:

Easter to mid November:
Saturday 10.00 am – 6.00 pm
Sundays   11.00 am – 6.00 pm
Bank Holidays  10.00 am – 6.00 pm

Mid November to March:
Saturdays Only  11.00 am – 5.00 pm
Groups and parties at other times by prior arrangement.

Watermills
The Fens are also famous for their Watermills; there are a number of restored water mills in the Fens, used in times gone by for grinding the local wheat into flour using the natural flow of the rivers and the streams.  

Experience a "fentastic" day out and download our ideas for Mills & No Hills (PDF)