Britain's What's On Event Guide
Lewes Talk: Guy Blythman – Traditional Windmills in Sussex & Lewes
The traditional windmill is a familiar, indeed iconic, feature of the Sussex landscape.
Guy Blythman will be discussing its history and development with particular reference to those in the Lewes area.
He will give an overview of the origins and development of the windmill from its beginnings in the Middle East in the 8th century through its spread across the Western world, its increasing technical complexity, decline in the 19th and 20th centuries and replacement by other sources of power.
An analysis of the various types of windmill, their design, layout, and different uses will be followed by a history of mills in Lewes and Kingston – such as Smart’s, Spital Hill, Town Mill, Malling, and Southern. As an expanding market town in the 18th and 19th centuries, Lewes needed mills to feed its growing population, and an additional six or so were built here in this period.
Traditional windmills today may seem an eccentricity, quaint survivors of a long-vanished age, whose construction displayed technical skills of remarkable ingenuity. But without them we would not be here, for they produced the flour for the bread which fed our ancestors.
Venue: The King’s Church building on Brooks Road, Lewes, BN7 2BY. (Between Tesco car park and Homebase). Please don’t park in Homebase’s car park: they take deliveries in the evenings.
Guy Blythman will be discussing its history and development with particular reference to those in the Lewes area.
He will give an overview of the origins and development of the windmill from its beginnings in the Middle East in the 8th century through its spread across the Western world, its increasing technical complexity, decline in the 19th and 20th centuries and replacement by other sources of power.
An analysis of the various types of windmill, their design, layout, and different uses will be followed by a history of mills in Lewes and Kingston – such as Smart’s, Spital Hill, Town Mill, Malling, and Southern. As an expanding market town in the 18th and 19th centuries, Lewes needed mills to feed its growing population, and an additional six or so were built here in this period.
Traditional windmills today may seem an eccentricity, quaint survivors of a long-vanished age, whose construction displayed technical skills of remarkable ingenuity. But without them we would not be here, for they produced the flour for the bread which fed our ancestors.
Venue: The King’s Church building on Brooks Road, Lewes, BN7 2BY. (Between Tesco car park and Homebase). Please don’t park in Homebase’s car park: they take deliveries in the evenings.
Friday 22 Sep 2023
The King’s Church, Brooks Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2BY
Entry: Entry is FREE for LHG members, and £4 for non-members. Everyone please book in advance at ticketsource.co.uk/lhg. Tickets available until 5:30pm of the day of the talk.See the Talks pages for a list of forthcoming monthly events organised by the Lewes History Group.
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