Fight to save Grimsby windmill labelled 'at risk' by Historic England

Volunteers have called for support to save a 140-year-old windmill labelled "at risk" by Historic England.

Waltham Windmill, in Lincolnshire, was a feat of engineering at the time it was built in the 1880s.

The former flour mill has been run as a working museum since the 1980s, telling the story of its agricultural past and role as a lookout post during World War Two.

Until recently it milled once a month, its six sails powered by the wind coming off the North Sea.

But decades of exposure to the elements have caused rainwater damage.

Peter Kingsford, a volunteer at the Waltham Windmill Preservation Society, said: "I think in most of these lovely old things - people can take them a bit for granted.

"We need to make an awareness that they are extremely vulnerable and it is a case of use it or lose it."

The site is one of 21 in Lincolnshire deemed "at risk" by Historic England. The medieval Hussey Tower in Boston and some timber-framed buildings on Lincoln's Steep Hill are also on the register.

In August the windmill's 16-tonne cap was removed for maintenance work, allowing volunteers to see the design up close.

Jane Holt, an architect for Historic England, said: "You get it down on the ground and you realise how clever the whole design is - the sales are curved, the little shades on the sails, they move.

"We forget how clever our forefathers were just using what they had."

A £63,000 grant has funded initial repair work, but the full extent of the problems mean a complete fix is likely to be much more expensive.

However, the volunteers believe further support could see the sails turning again by Easter.

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