STORMS which buffeted Britain claimed another victim as an historic windmill’s blades were ripped off by the high winds.
Staff at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire had a dramatic start to the year when they returned to find the museum’s iconic windmill damaged by high winds.
One of the windmill’s sails snapped off and the broken section pierced the roof of the windmill’s lower section, causing extensive damage.
Staff returned to find a large part of one of the mill’s huge blades hanging off the back of the building by a connecting rope having been torn off and cast aside by what forecasters described as an “arctic storm”.
The two century old windmill has stood firm since it was built between 1790 and 1810, and is the last surviving example of a post mill from Warwickshire having been rescued from Danzey Green near Tanworth-in-Arden in the late 1960s and re-erected at the Museum.
The windmill had only recently been repaired to an operational condition in the winter of 2011, with restoration work to the windmill’s tailpole and wheel costing over GBP3,000 partly funded by an anonymous donation.
The damage has set back plans for a training programme for Museum volunteers to learn how to sail the mill and to produce flour ready for the 2012 main season which is being partly funded by a Worcestershire County Council grant.
This will now have to be postponed until the sail has been fully repaired and installed which is likely to delay planned restoration work on some of the other historic buildings at the Museum. The estimated cost of repairing the damage to the windmill is around GBP5,000.
Simon Carter, Director of Avoncroft Museum, said: “It was horrifying to return to work and find the windmill in such a state.
“This unexpected damage will have a major impact on the Museum’s resources.
“As an independent charitable Museum which collects buildings there is always a long ongoing maintenance plan but unexpected damage such as this sometimes has to take priority.
“The repair and restoration costs of looking after historic buildings at Avoncroft can be much higher than for museums where their collections are safely stored in galleries and display cases.”
Meanwhile, about 40 trees were torn up around Worcestershire as winds of up to 65mph battered the county.
The storms, which yesterday claimed two lives, played havoc with commuters yesterday causing traffic across the West Midlands as trees were torn up across the region and tossed across roads and gardens.
