Windmill Cottages
Article researched by John Meads
Enclosure Map 1803
Bryants 1826 Map
The Inclosure Award map of 1803 names George Robinson as owner of the windmill; it clearly shows a pair of buildings and a ‘cross’ that indicates the windmill itself. It would stand to reason that someone lived on the site to look after the windmill, but it is not until 1838 when George and Annie Shipley have a daughter baptised at Cranford St. John and their abode is given as Burton Mill that any mention of inhabitants at the windmill are found. The reference to “Burton Mill” is repeated when the Garton, Hodson and Holland families also have children baptised at Cranford and they also appear at “The Windmill” and “Burton Windmill” in the 1841 and 1851 censuses respectively.
In 1851, there are four households listed, the family of George Holland, John Garton, Mary Rowley and George Garton, all of them agricultural labourers.
In 1861, there is only one household, that of Samuel Allen, occupation: miller.
In 1871 only two, William Hull, agricultural carter and George Hodson, agricultural labourer had the “Windmill” address.
The group of buildings at the windmill c 1887
Although the 1887 Ordnance Survey map shows a complex of buildings on the site, it is not clear which of them are domestic and which are mill buildings
Neither the 1881 nor the 1891 census mention any houses at the windmill but Kelly’s Directory names Walter Bell in 1890 and 1903 as miller and the parish records have a John Cave, miller, abode: “Windmill”, having a child baptised in 1898.
The 1901 census shows only two families living at what are now given the name of “Windmill Cottages”, those of Arthur W. Hodson and John T. Melton.
It is Arthur W. Hodson’s wife Prudence who can be seen on the familiar photograph showing the cottages and windmill taken before the First World War, by which time the windmill was derelict and the premises used by the Burton Ironstone Company, whose employees occupied the cottages. Only the middle two cottages seem to be occupied, which seems to confirm the census data.
1906.The bungalow on the right was probably the Burton
Ironstone Company offices.
Arthur W Hodson
In this photograph he was an engine
driver employed by the Burton Ironstone
Company living with his large family at
Windmill Cottages.
Sixteen years later, in the 1934 electoral register, five of the eight cottages were occupied by the same families: Blowfield, Hodson, Hancock and the two Palmer families.
Years of neglect during the 1940s and lack of modern facilities resulted in the houses being listed for demolition by the Urban District Council in the early 1950s. The remaining occupants of 2, 3, 6 and 7 were on a list for re-housing in 1955 and by 1957 only one family lived there.
During the 1960’s the cottages were taken over by dog breeder, Mrs Richard Harpur, as boarding kennels for dogs. In 1966 conditions at the kennels were highlighted by a national newspaper. Mrs Harpur threatened to commit suicide in 1973 following a ban on her keeping animals. The death of Mrs Harpur was reported in 1975 . For more details on the kennels and Mrs Harpur, click on the buttons below.
After a period of about 25 years, during which several different options were put forward and, following much debate as to their fate, the refurbishment of the cottages took place in the early 1980s (click below for photographs and articles of the facelift 1975 and 1978), and by 1982 a row of five modernised cottages occupied the site. In 1988 the residents of the cottages opposed a plan to site a breaker’s yard close to their homes – click below for an article relating to this plan.
