Chesterton windmill has featured in my blog over the years.  The windmill is a popular structure sitting on top of a prominent hill in Warwickshire just outside Leamington Spa.  You can just see the windmill from the M40 motorway, but you need to be a passenger as your eyes have to search for it in the landscape.  During the Covid Lockdown, we visited the windmill many times to meet up with our grandchildren and therefore the place has many special memories.   I have not visited much in the last two years as the sails have been sent off for repairs.  The repair process has been ongoing with no sign of the sails being returned. On Twitter, David Adams, a member of the Chesterton Archaeology Research Team lamented about the situation to English Heritage and Historic England.  He tweeted that the Windmill was looking more like a folly these days.  His words spurred me on to visit once again.  

The place was quiet when I arrived, and I was the only visitor around.  I had brought along my tripod and spent my time leisurely approaching the windmill taking pictures.  To begin with I used my 400mm lens to obtain some pictures of the lines in the field lined up with the remaining windmill structure. There are lines in the barley crop that provide a lead into the windmill making for an attractive picture.    At the windmill, there is evidence of both natural and artificial erosion of the surrounding wall and the four-legged structure.  The artificial erosion is the damage caused by visitors.  There are stones scattered around the site and part of the surrounding wall is broken.  The damage is unsightly, and no one is taking care or looking to repair the war.  

The sails are obviously missing, and this removes much of the majestic appearance of the windmill.   Any windmill will look deflated without sails.  The unique architecture is still appealing for photographs but it is still not the same.  A popular place for viewing the windmill is just into the fields on the western approach.   With care I went along the tracks into the fields to set up my picture.  For these pictures, I decided to use my big stopper filter.  This was used to slow down time providing a cinematic feel to the pictures.  There is some blurring of the barley due to the light wind blowing across the area.  The clouds passed by and so did the time.  I decided to move on, leave the peace behind and re-enter the hectic time of the day.

There was still some sadness as I left.  The windmill is looking more like a folly without its sails.  Using this blog and social media, I will ask people to post pictures of Chesterton Windmill in a campaign to bring back the sails. The picture below is one of my favourite pictures of the Windmill which was featured in the BBC England Big Picture

Here are some links of the Windmill

Chesterton Windmill as covered by Our Warwickshire

If you wish to see the sails returned then please contact Warwickshire county council.

Chesterton Windmill

Chesterton Windmill revisited