A Gem in the Chilterns

By Linda Tancs

A windmill has stood in Ivinghoe, in the Chiltern countryside, since at least 1627. That’s where you’ll find Pitstone Windmill, the oldest-dated windmill in Britain. Although no longer in use today, it’s a refurbished example of an early post mill which, unlike similar mills in East Anglia, was turned to face the wind on top of a huge wooden post using a tail pole instead of a fantail or shuttered sails. It’s part of Ashridge Estate, a 5,000-acre refuge of woodland, chalk downlands and meadows.