Friday, June 19, 2009
Shipley windmill and Hilaire Belloc.
Shipley Windmill.
Until recently this windmill had been working and was open to the public on some Sundays through the year. But real, active, money making working ceased in the 1920s.
There are some financial and legal wranglings right now and it seems those days are gone.
The windmill belonged to Hilaire Belloc, a poet.
Many will know of his Cautionary Tales for Children. I loved them as a child - feeling some degree of sympathy for the naughty children!
Do you remember Henry King who ate string? Or Mathilda, the little liar who called out "FIRE!"?
Hilaire Belloc bought Kings Land in 1907 and built a brick house and the land included the mill.
There is a plaque about him over the door of the mill, but we couldn't get to see it because the mill is fenced off and marked PRIVATE.
The mill was built in 1879 and is the youngest and largest of Sussex mills.
This picture was taken as we walked round to the church.
Hilaire Belloc loved Sussex and here are 2 verses from a favourite of mine.
The great hills of the South Country
They stand along the sea;
And it's there walking in the high woods
That I could wish to be,
And the men that were boys when I was a boy
Are walking along with me.
I never get between the pines
But I smell the Sussex air;
Nor I never come on a belt of sand
But my home is there.
And along the sky the line of the Downs
So noble and so bare.
Later we visited Hilaire Belloc's grave.
Until recently this windmill had been working and was open to the public on some Sundays through the year. But real, active, money making working ceased in the 1920s.
There are some financial and legal wranglings right now and it seems those days are gone.
The windmill belonged to Hilaire Belloc, a poet.
Many will know of his Cautionary Tales for Children. I loved them as a child - feeling some degree of sympathy for the naughty children!
Do you remember Henry King who ate string? Or Mathilda, the little liar who called out "FIRE!"?
Hilaire Belloc bought Kings Land in 1907 and built a brick house and the land included the mill.
There is a plaque about him over the door of the mill, but we couldn't get to see it because the mill is fenced off and marked PRIVATE.
The mill was built in 1879 and is the youngest and largest of Sussex mills.
This picture was taken as we walked round to the church.
Hilaire Belloc loved Sussex and here are 2 verses from a favourite of mine.
The great hills of the South Country
They stand along the sea;
And it's there walking in the high woods
That I could wish to be,
And the men that were boys when I was a boy
Are walking along with me.
I never get between the pines
But I smell the Sussex air;
Nor I never come on a belt of sand
But my home is there.
And along the sky the line of the Downs
So noble and so bare.
Later we visited Hilaire Belloc's grave.
