Topping Out an Ancient Windmill. Isle of Portland. Historic event

With the help of a big crane and a team of helpers, a new roof was placed on one of the two historic stone windmill towers on Portland. The roof has been skilfully made single-handed by owner Nick Gould.
The mill had lain roofless and derelict for more than a century. The twin structures are the only surviving windmill relics in the county of Dorset.
The two stone-towered windmills at Cottonfields and Growlands, in the centre of the Island, although first recorded in the Land Revenue Accounts of 1608, may have been built 100 years earlier. The windmills, which were prominent Island landmarks, remained in use until the late 19th century. Until the 1970s, the mills sat in splendid isolation in rolling fields. Housing development then encroached right up to the North Mill, and a stone quarry destroyed a field adjoining the southern one. They've lost much of their rural setting.
The restoration of the roof of the North Mill by the current owner, Nick Gould, has been a work of love and dedication. Perhaps one day we'll see it complete with sails!

[@petergraydon6868]

I knew restoration had started a while back, but got a very pleasant surprise when your video popped up. Thanks for recording this

[@vivellasmum]

Fabulous I'm so glad you did this Stuart as I couldn't get there! I hadn't thought of them being the only ones in Dorset but of course they are!

[@nicholaskelly1958]

Apparently it was originally known as Cottonfield's lMill. The other mill was originally known as Top Growland's Mill. Presumably after the fields to which they were adjacent. I do hope that you have taken advice from people who know about mills (eg like Martin Watts etc etc) who will be able to advise you on the likelihood of the original machinery layout (I suspect that there would have been two floors and a single pair of stones driven off brake wheel via a lantern pinion) I was told that the original wooden windshaft will exists and could be copied.

[@StuartMorris7]

Yes the mills stand in the fields known as Cottonfields and Growlands. I was not involved, but the owner has got all the proper advice from planners and experts.

[@nicholaskelly1958]

@StuartMorris7 Hmm I hope that he has. One thing puzzles me is the obvious lack of a curb for the cap to rotate on I often worry when people say that "experts" have advised them! Some years ago I visited a mill in the North of England which had been "restored" by "experts" It was a deeply disturbing experience. I of course was very polite but the thing was bizarre as it was quite clear that the "experts" must have been avant-garde architects and not millwrights! There is a golden opportunity here to recreate a mill type that is now only represented by guant long empty towers. The Medieval/Early Modern West Country Tower mill. It is often overlooked that the invention of the post mill and the tower mill was a nearly contemporaneous event. With the earliest post mills appearing in the 1180s and earliest tower mills a few years prior to the 1220s. The oldest surviving tower mill is Moulin de Pierre at Hauville near Rouen. It dates from 1218. Cottonfield's/North Mill would have had very similar machinery to Moulin de Pierre despite being some 400 years newer. West Country tower mill design varied little from the mill at Fowey in Cornwall which could easily date back to the 1290s. Up to Buzza Mill on St Mary's in Scilly. I sincerely Hope that the owner has spoken to people from the SPAB Wind & Watermill Section and/or The Mills Archive.

[@StuartMorris7]

@@nicholaskelly1958 Very interesting. I don't think you need worry as the owner made it clear that the rooof is temporary, and no alteration has been made to the stone tower. It seems that you are an expert, and I could put you in touch with the owner if you like.

[@nicholaskelly1958]

@StuartMorris7 That could be helpful Thanks.

[@jeaniebottle6758]

It would be nice if they had sails & generated power.

[@vivellasmum]

It will have sails but the plan is to make it a working windmill not for power.