Reference
Z706
Title
Records relating to Stevington Windmill. Gift from Mr. R. Skinner. Mr Skinner, who was a waste disposal operative with the Bedfordshire County Council, found the documents at Elstow Tip.
Date free text
1804-1990
Production date
From: 1804 To: 1990
Scope and Content
The present post mill dates from c.1770 and was most certainly built for Richard Pool. In the enclosure award for Stevington he was allotted a freehold piece of land in Great Field alongside Windmill Lane.
When Richard died in 1812 he bequeathed the mill and Mill Close to his wife, for life and after her death, to his son, William, although William would have to pay £5 each to his 2 sisters, Sarah and Sophie.
In 1825 William Pool mortgaged the Mill and the land it stood on, to Francis and John Green, coal merchants of Bedford, for £400 and another £100 in 1828. In 1832 he had to assign the Mill and land for the benefit of his creditors. However by 1837 he owed £3000 to Francis Green, who took the Mill and land in part payment of what was owed to him.
Francis Green’s heir, Thomas Abbott Green his nephew, sold the Mill to Edmund Favell, miller, of Stevington, in 1849
In 1868 the Mill was sold to William Raban and in 1917 Mrs Raban conveyed it to Alfred Raban who, very shortly afterwards, sold it to George Field.
The Mill was rebuilt in 1921 and operated until 1936.
The County Council acquired it from Mr Field’s representatives in 1951 and restored it in commemoration of the Festival of Britain.
1958. Sails replaced.
For the history of the Mill see also
CRT130 Stevington 7 and 15
X495/60
X98/99-102
CCE885
Reference
Level of description
fonds