Brixton Windmill

Brixton Windmill, also known as Ashby’s Mill, is a brick-built tower mill with a wooden boat-shaped cap. It has a pair of common sails and a pair of spring sails (please note the sails will not be turning during this event). It worked as a wind-powered mill until 1862. From 1902 flour was produced using a hurst-framed modular mill driven by a steam engine (later by a gas engine) and the business finally closed in 1934. The millers who worked here, and leased and later owned the mill, were three generations of the Ashby family. Like other windmills, Brixton had ingenious wind-powered equipment such as a sack hoist and a governor that used centrifugal force to adjust the gap between the millstones as the wind changed speed. The height of the building enabled millers to use gravity to feed grain into the hoppers and for flour to be processed and collected into sacks.
Brixton Windmill was first restored in the 1960s and opened to the public at Easter 1968. After the windmill was placed on English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk Register in 2002 further Heritage Lottery Funded restoration took place in 2010–11. A new education and visitor centre beside the windmill was completed by Lambeth Council in 2020.
On a drop-in guided tour you will climb to the second floor of the windmill (the stone floor) and see the Derbyshire grit millstones that were once wind-driven, and on the first floor (the meal floor) of the mill you will see the modular mill which is now powered by electricity.

Timings & Tours

Saturday 14 September:

1330-1700 Drop-in guided tours

Sunday 15 September:

1300-1700 Drop-in guided tours

Location & directions

Windmill Gardens, 100 Blenheim Gardens, Brixton Hill, London, Greater London, SW2 5DA

Directions:

Brixton Windmill is situated in a small park called Windmill Gardens at the west end of Blenheim Gardens, off Brixton Hill (A23) 1 mile south of Brixton. It’s a 20-minute walk from Brixton Underground and rail stations, or the 45, 59, 109, 118, 133, 159, 250 and 333 buses run from Brixton up Brixton Hill (alight at Blenheim Gardens). Clapham North Underground and Streatham Hill rail stations are also nearby (both 1.2 miles away). Bicycles can be parked in Windmill Gardens. There is no car park and limited parking in nearby roads (free at the weekend). If travelling in a vehicle northbound down Brixton Hill, there is no left turn into Blenheim Gardens, take the next left into St Saviour’s Road, turn left again into Halliwell Road and Blenheim Gardens is at the end. Going southbound, you can turn right from Brixton Hill into Blenheim Gardens. Further info at https://www.brixtonwindmill.org

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking not required

Accessibility details

All visitors must be accompanied by a guide. Children less than 1.2 metres tall are not allowed in the windmill. Children younger than 14 must be accompanied by an adult. You need to be able to climb narrow stairs. For visitors with disabilities, we aim to deliver as much interpretation as possible from the ground floor. If you have mobility problems, health concerns or don’t like heights or climbing ladders, you may prefer to remain on the ground or first floor. Please tell the guide or steward if you think you may have problems.

Additional information

There will also be British Sign Language tours of Brixton Windmill at 1300 and 1400 on Saturday 14 September (max. 6 people per tour) which must be pre-booked via the London Open House Festival website https://programme.openhouse.org.uk/listings/1971 which goes live for bookings from midday on 21 August.

Max no of people per tour:

6

Est. tour duration:

0 hour(s) 20 minute(s)

Check out our online channels

Back to results