My Lancashire - My accounts of the local area

Preston's Windmills Part 2 Following on from a previous post about a search for historical windmills around Preston in Lancashire , I continued to keep a watch for anything related when reviewing other historical information. At the point of publishing the last post on the subject, I had pinpointed the location of eight windmills around the town using the first edition Ordnance Survey Maps from the 1840s.   Factory Windmill (Moor Lane tower mill) Friargate Windmill  Margaret Street Windmill Park Lane Windmill Parr Croft Windmill Singleton Row Windmill - now known as Craggs Row and the tower still exists  Snow Hill Windmill Cadley Moor Windmill  As per the first post, much of this history happened before the advent of photography, so there was no photographic evidence for any of the windmills other than the tower of Craggs Row windmill.  There are no photographs of this windmill with the sails still intact either.  However, there were a number of very good illustrations, which appea

Preston's Windmills Part 1 I have always been interested in windmills.  We are fortunate to have a number of surviving examples dotted around Lancashire, and some of them are in a state of good repair.  The ones on the Flyde Coast including Marsh Mill at Thornton-Cleveleys, Little Marton Windmill and Lytham Windmill are all well known.  I can't recall having been inside any of these buildings, but I might have done in the past.  The last working example I had the pleasure of viewing the inner workings of was on the outskirts of York.  This was Holgate Windmill, which is York's last surviving windmill and apparently the oldest five-sailed windmill in the country.  That's certainly worth a visit.  It's also quite unique, in the sense that it is on an island in a street, surrounded by houses. I have only really recently become aware of the history of Preston's windmills.  Something led me to Craggs Row Windmill several years ago, whilst on one of my journeys down a