Outwood Mill Frank Fuller, Millwright 1876

We’ve just received this very interesting story and some images from Leslie Fuller in France.

According to the photographs sent to us by Leslie, his Great Grandfather, one Frank Fuller was a millwright in the latter part of the 19th Century and was certainly known to either the Jupp Brothers (William & Stanley) or even the Thomas brothers (Raymond & Gerald).

Here is an image of Frank Fuller, this was taken in 1876 and would make Frank around 19 years old at the time:-

As you can see from the photograph it appears that the man on the right of the image is working on a gear wheel for either a water mill or a windmill. One would suspect that this might be the man under whom Frank Fuller trained as a Millwright.

The photograph was sent to Leslie around 1986 by Raymond Thomas as the inscription on the rear shows.

Whats even more interesting is that Raymond Thomas indicated to Leslie that Frank Fuller made a donation of some his Millwrights Tools to the Windmill and Raymond confirmed at one time that there was an exhibition of these tools within the windmill.

Having looked through some recent photographs that we took recently at the windmill it appears that there are tools all over the windmill and some of these may indeed have belonged to Frank Fuller as Raymond Thomas indicated.

Here are some images of both the Roundhouse and the Stone floor showing millwrights tools hung up in various places.

The image above shows a row of “Mill Bills” that hang across one of the beams on the Stone Floor of Outwood Mill, these tools were used to “dress” the Mill Stones (Dressing the stones meant recutting the grooves in the Bed Stone that enabled the ground meal to exit the stones).

The image above shows some saws that hang in the Roundhouse (the lower part of the windmill), these do appear to herald from the late Victorian period and are therefore contemporary with Frank Fullers time as a Millwright.

What’s even more interesting is the photo below:-

This image shows Franks examination results for the exam he sat in Machine Construction and Drawing. The certificate is dated 6th May 1876 and shows Frank to be 19 at that time. This then means Frank was born in 1857 and I feel sure he lived to a ripe old age.

Certainly Frank Fullers memory and perhaps his workmanship lives on in Outwood Mill and we at the mill are indebted to Franks Great Grandson, Leslie for sharing this wonderful story with us and allowing us to publish these images.

If we find out anything more about Frank we’ll be sure to put it on the site here and if you are reading this and you have any further information about this story or any other history in connection to Outwood Mill we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Outwood Post Mill Featured On Stikinotes.com

After a recent visit to Outwood Mill by someone from Stikinotes.com. Outwood Mill is the FIRST Windmill in the UK To be featured on the Stikinotes.com site.

Stikinotes.com is a great way to share the places you have been to and also a fun way to find new places to visit based on the experiences of other people using Stikinotes.com.

Stikinotes is also available as an app for your phone so you can get information about things to do and places to visit while you are on the move and whats more you can even add places while you are visiting them! How cool is that!

Thanks again to Jessica from Stikinotes for adding us on the site.

Our stikinotes page is at – http://www.stikinotes.com/explore/669/outwood-windmill.aspx

Outwood Mill Starting Point For Outwood Village Show!

For the first time in a number of years the Village Show, to be held this year on Saturday 3rd September, will begin and end at Outwood Post Mill.

Historically the Outwood Village Parade always used to begin at Outwood Mill, however for the last few years the Windmill at Outwood hasn’t been available for this to happen. However, the new operators, Ray & Tracy, have opened up the Windmill and its grounds once again so that the procession and its participants can once again meet and begin the day at the Windmill.

More details of this will be published both in the forthcoming edition of the Outwood News but also in the Outwood Village Show guide which is being prepared as we speak.

Outwood Post Mill becomes BT FON Free WiFi Hotspot

Outwood Mill is possibly the oldest thing on the internet!

We know how much people like to be connected to the internet and even better if its high-speed and FREE!

Well, Outwood Mill has now become a BT FON Free Wifi Hotspot meaning that anyone who is a member of BT FON or BT OPENZONE can now enjoy High Speed internet access whilst visiting Outwood Mill.

This is perfect for the mill as it allows people with smart mobile phones, wifi enabled cameras and handheld devices such as iPads, Tablets and Laptops to take pictures and record video of the mill and send these to all their friends online immediately in the social spaces such as Facebook and Twitter.

With apps such as Foursquare and other location based social networks becoming massively popular its only right that Outwood Mill joins in the fun online. Its a great way for the mill to be promoted online and can only mean more visitors and more funds for the upcoming repair work that needs to be done.

For more details about BT FON visit the website at BT Fon Wesbite