Childhood memories of windmill (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Childhood memories of windmill

11:38am Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in Remember When? By Emma Clayton, Leisure and Lifestyle Editor

An article on the old windmill at Shelf, on last Saturday’s Remember When page, brought back “fantastic childhood memories” for Terry Tordoff.

In our report, based on Yorkshire Windmills Through Time (Amberly, £14.99), the last corn windmill in the district to survive, was at Shelf. Falling into disrepair, it remained as a landmark on Halifax Road until the early 1960s.

But Terry, of Buttershaw, writes: “The mill was not situated on Halifax Road, but on Burned Road, leading to Stanage Lane in Shelf where the present Lay Windmill is located.

“As kids, we used to use the building like a gang hut and meeting place. The mill was on a smallholding that kept pigs and chickens. There was also a mill pond that was home to frogs and smooth newts which was a magnet for young boys.”

Terry continues: “The mill was about half a mile from my home, over the beck and through a couple of farm fields. I remember climbing the structure to check on the progress of kestrels and other birds that nested there each year.

“I believe the remains of the wooden sails and the top of the building were destroyed by a lightning strike about the year 1960, which I photographed after the event.”

Terry has loaned us this picture of the old windmill, after its sails were destroyed.