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SKIDBY WINDMILL
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G D WEBSTER
A plaque was recently donated to Skidby Windmill by Mrs A Grantham, who was given it by a relative in Driffield,who found it amongst her possessions
The plaque has an image of the mill on it and was apparently given to a former employee of the mill,(G D Webster) on the occasion of his retirement. Mr Webster worked for the mill owners, the Thompson family for 34 years before commercial operations ceased in 1966. There is an inscription on the plaque which reads:-
“Presented to GD Webster together with a silver lever hunting watch and chain by the employers and employees of Messrs JG and B Thompson, Skidby Mill, as a small token of their regard and esteem upon his retirement after 34 years of faithful service with the firm.”
Following this appeal for descendants of G D Webster whose retirement plaque was found recently and donated to the Mill, we are pleased to report that Mr Webster's great grandson Kenneth Grantham (74) has come forward to solve the mystery. Mr Webster worked at the mill for 34 years and was presented with the plaque and also a silver lever hunting watch on his retirement. Mr Grantham has now donated the watch to the mill. The watch was given to him by his grandmother (Mr Webster's daughter.)
Mr Webster's full name was George Danby Webster and he originated from Sutton, Hull. He lived at North Dalton from the outbreak of World War I. He was widowed in 1919. He lost the sight of one eye while at Skidby and lost the sight of the other eye 12 years later while chopping firewood. He was totally blind for the last 27 years of his life and died at the age of 90 at the George and Dragon Inn, North Dalton, the home of his daughter Mrs E Boddy.
NEWS UPDATE FROM SKIDBY MILL
Work is due to commence this year on the cap and fantail refurbishment of the mill.
The cap and sail whips will be removed whilst the work is being done.
The work will be carried out by Thompsons of Alford.
More details to follow at a later date.
JANUARY 2008
SKIDBY WINDMILL
SKIDBY WINDMILL: THE MUSEUM OF EAST RIDING RURAL LIFE
For many people, Skidby Windmill is one of the most enduring symbols of the rural East Riding, and is Yorkshire’s last surviving working windmill. Five storeys high, the brick tower is painted with black bitumen and surmounted by a striking white wooden ogee cap. Still grinding wheat by wind-power 180 years after it was built in the reign of George lll, it has three sets of grinding stones powered by four massive sails nearly 11 metres long.
The tower mill - the last in a succession of windmills which stood on roughly the same site - was built in 1821 by Norman and Smithson, a well-known firm of Hull millwrights; the carved datestone set into the lower part of the tower can still be seen today. It was purchased in 1854 by Joseph Green Thompson, who already owned the nearby Low Mill at Cottingham. He extended the mill to its present five stories in the 1870s; the new work can be seen quite clearly as a “waist” about two thirds of the way up the tower.
Many windmills had fallen into disuse by the end of the 19th century, a direct result of the “dumping” of cheap North American grain here from the 1870s, which was too “hard” to grind using stones. Thompson’s, who luckily had the choice, switched their wheat-milling business to their Hull roller mill, using Skidby to grind barley and oats instead for pig and poultry meal. The mill was kept in continuous working order by Thompson’s until the 1950s, when the business was sold to Allied Mills. The company fitted it with electrical equipment and continued to operate it for producing animal foodstuffs until 1966, at which point the mill was “sold” as Joseph Thompson’s instigation to the then Beverley Rural District Council for a nominal £1. After two reorganisations of Local Government, Skidby Mill became a part of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Museums and Galleries Service.
In December 1998, Skidby Windmill was awarded a grant of just over £236,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and a further £87,000 from the European Regional Development Fund to support East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s capital project to refurbish and redisplay the Grade ll-listed building as the Museum of East Riding Rural Life. Two new exhibition galleries were created, looking at the agricultural history of the Wolds, and Village Life.
SKIDBY MILL
There has been a mill at Skidby (although not necessarily on the present site) since at least 1316. This would have been a primitive type of wooden post mill. The enclosure award map of 1796 shows a mill and outbuildings on the present site, but this was a wooden post mill, which was sold and moved to make way for the present five-storied brick tower mill. This was built by Norman & Smithson of Hull for a Mr Watson in 1821. And was originally a much smaller structure. After two successive tenancies, Skidby Mill was purchased in 1854 by Joseph Thompson, who already owned Low Mill at Cottingham, and which he closed to concentrate on his new purchase. It was he who extended the mill to its present height in the 1870s: the new work can be seen quite clearly as a “waist” about two thirds of the way up the tower. By the latter part of the 19th century, Thompson’s milling business, which apart from Skidby included a steam mill at Hull and a watermill at Welton, was a close rival to that of Joseph Rank’s.
The mill was kept in continuous working order by Thompson’s under a succession of mill managers, until the 1950’s, when Eric and Joseph Thompson sold the business to Allied Mills. The company continued to operate it (but using electrical rather than wind power) until 1966, when the mill was sold to the then Beverley Borough Council for a nominal £1. After Local Government Re-organisation in 1996, it is now owned by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and operated by the East Riding Museums and Galleries Service.
Skidby Mill is a Grade II listed building and the only working tower mill east of the Pennines. The brick tower is painted with black bitumen to help protect from damp penetration, and has a white wooden ogee cap of the Lincolnshire type, developed during the 18th century by John Smeeton of Leeds. Norman and Smithson’s datestone can be seen in the tower immediately above the roofline of the Lower Warehouse. The Mill has three sets of grinding stones - French burr, carbon composite and Derbyshire millstone grit.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2003
JOE WHITE SKIDBY MILL 1927-1968
Joe White made the decision in 1927 to leave farm-work behind and take a job at Skidby Mill as a delivery man, which provided a wage increase of five shillings per week and paid annual leave.
Joe found the first year tough going, but came to love his job and eventually when the horses and carts were replaced with lorries Joe became the main lorry driver.
In 1944 Joe became the miller at Skidby and continued to work at the mill until his retirement in 1968, when the then Beverley Rural District Council acquired the mill. One day during September Joe's family were at the Mill to present a bench in Joe's memory. Having the bench sited in Joe’s favourite place, where he spent many a peaceful moment taking in the surrounding views, means a great deal to Joe’s family, who hope that the people who sit on it will enjoy the scenery as much as Joe did.
Joe White died in 1979 aged 77.
RECENT MILL NEWS
Skidby Windmill is open seven days a week, including bank holidays, from 10-5.
The mill will be working, weather permitting from Wednesday to Sunday, with visitors able to access the stone floor on these days.
People interested in becoming a volunteer at skidby mill should be directed to Fiona Jenkinson or Kirsty Watts (volunteer coordinators) on 01482 848405
We also now have a new workshop booklet for 2007 informing both children and adults about workshops based at Skidby Windmill.
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