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Cley Windmill© Randusr836 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
116 windmills across England, the finest first, then every one county by county.
See them on the map
BedfordshireBuckinghamshireCambridgeshireDerbyshireEssexKentLeicestershireLincolnshireNorfolkNottinghamshireOxfordshireSuffolkElsewhere in North West EnglandElsewhere in South East EnglandElsewhere in South West EnglandElsewhere in West MidlandsElsewhere
Early 19th-century tower mill above the marsh at Cley, long since converted to celebrated guest rooms.
Norfolk
One of two working tide mills left in the UK.
Hampshire
A black-tarred smock mill on the cliff-top down above Rottingdean, long the village emblem.
East Sussex
White smock mill on the hill above Turville, familiar as the home of Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Buckinghamshire
The only surviving eight-sailed windmill in the country, a working brick tower producing wholemeal and white flour beside the station.
Lincolnshire
Overshot 16th-century watermill under a long stone roof near Alderley Edge, restored to working order by the National Trust.
Cheshire
Restored smock mill with its wooden machinery intact, on the edge of Sandwich, open on summer days.
Kent
Largest post mill in Sussex, lottery-restored above Herstmonceux with its roundhouse, sweeps and machinery rebuilt.
Hampshire's only working windmill, with 1814 machinery.
White smock mill on Chailey Common, restored as a landmark and holding a small rural-life collection on summer days.
Twin waterwheels on the Caldon Canal that once ground flint for the pottery industry, a preserved working mill open to visitors.
Staffordshire
Tapering brick tower mill on the greensand ridge near Pitch Hill, a landmark for walkers though now a private house.
Surrey
The last working full-size marsh drainage windmill in Britain, a black-tarred smock mill demonstrated on the Waveney levels.
Suffolk
A restored open-trestle post mill of around 1750 on the Downs edge above Worthing, milling on selected open days.
West Sussex
A pair of restored windmills on the Downs above Clayton; Jill, a white post mill, still grinds flour on open days.
Rare six-sided smock mill standing on Meopham Green, a landmark on the road south of Gravesend.
Britain's only working open-trestle post mill, restored on the edge of Ashdown Forest and still turning on open days.
Post mill of 1665 on Outwood common, the oldest working windmill in England, still grinding on open days.
A working Georgian watermill on the Black Bourn near Bury St Edmunds, milling flour with a tearoom on site.
A working brick tower windmill near Bury St Edmunds, sail-turning partner to the village's watermill.
Tall brick tower mill above the village green at Quainton, restored to work under wind on some Sundays.
White post mill on Reigate Heath golf course, unique in England for having a working chapel fitted inside its roundhouse.
Small post mill kept as a memorial in a garden at Rolvenden, an unusually complete survival.
Smock mill on the edge of the old Wantsum marshes at Sarre, restored to grind, with a bakery.
Hilaire Belloc's white smock mill, King's Mill, standing beside his former home at Shipley; a landmark on the Low Weald.
A well-preserved tower mill of 1787 in the hilltop village of Stansted Mountfitchet, opened to visitors on advertised days.
Essex
The tallest post mill in Kent, on the Isle of Oxney above the Rother Levels at Wittersham.
Brick tower mill restored to working order, grinding flour again on open days near the Pevensey Levels.
A restored 1819 tower windmill on the Norfolk border that grinds flour on open days, with a tearoom and granary.
The tallest smock mill in England, white weatherboarded and still milling flour on the edge of Cranbrook.
An unusual hexagonal smock mill rising from tiered barns in Hove, painted by Constable in the 1820s. Run as a small museum, open on selected Sundays.
A rare working tide mill on the Deben quay, its wheel still turning to grind wholemeal flour on the tide.
White smock mill on the green at Woodchurch, rebuilt to turn again above the Weald.
Tall brick tower mill on Wray Common east of Reigate, keeping its cap and sails as a converted landmark.
The only complete windmill left in Bedfordshire, an eighteenth-century post mill on the ridge above Stevington, restored for the Festival of Britain.
Stevington
A working eighteenth-century watermill on the Great Ouse three miles west of Bedford, with heritage displays and a picnic island.
Bromham
A restored working watermill and greenspace on the River Ivel at Stotfold, milling flour again after fire and rebuild.
Stotfold
Timber post mill of around 1680 on the common at the top of Brill hill, with wide views over the vale.
Brill
A National Trust place in Buckinghamshire.
Ivinghoe
Early 19th-century stone tower mill kept as a working museum within Milton Keynes at Old Bradwell.
Bradwell
The oldest surviving smock mill in England, moved to the Chilterns ridge at Lacey Green and restored with its original machinery.
Lacey Green
Reckoned the oldest surviving windmill in England, a weatherboarded open-trestle post mill of the 17th century on the hill west of Cambridge.
Bourn
Working octagonal tower mill at Soham, rebuilt on an old smock base and still turning out stoneground flour on open days.
Soham
Grade II* tower mill at the heart of Burwell Museum, its upper floors climbed by guided tour for wide fen views.
Burwell
Restored fen-edge tower mill near Ely, its cap and sails put back after long dereliction on the Isle above the Great Ouse.
Stretham
Small restored smock mill in Wicken village near the famous fen, a slender white landmark above the sedge.
Wicken
A National Trust place in Cambridgeshire.
Houghton (Houghton)
Working smock mill above Swaffham Prior grinding organic flour by wind, one of two mills that share the fen-edge ridge.
Swaffham Prior
One of the country's oldest post mills, restored on its trestle above the village and among the earliest to survive in England.
Great Gransden
Tall smock mill of 1808 at Impington near Histon, a well-preserved survivor once tied to the famous local jam works.
Histon
A rare preserved Midlands-type post mill at Dale Abbey, one of only a handful left standing in the country.
Dale Abbey
The only working six-sailed stone tower windmill in England, restored to grind flour with sweeping views over the Derwent Valley.
Heage
A National Trust place in Derbyshire.
Mansfield Woodhouse
The largest post mill in Essex, restored to working order with a single-storey roundhouse and open on advertised days.
Aythorpe Roding
A post mill with a two-storey roundhouse standing in Church Street, Bocking since 1721, opened by volunteers on advertised days.
Bocking
A Grade II* tower mill of 1804 on the edge of Thaxted, restored with its cap and sails and open on summer weekends.
Thaxted
A Grade II* post mill near Brentwood, restored with its sails and open on the third Sunday afternoon of summer months.
Mountnessing
A restored tower mill on Bellingham Lane housing a local museum, free to enter through the summer months.
Rayleigh
A National Trust place in Essex.
Colchester
The oldest windmill in Essex, built around 1756 above the village green and open on summer Sunday afternoons.
Finchingfield
A Grade II* tower mill of about 1804 at Stock, several floors of machinery intact and explained by guides on open days.
Stock
Smock mill on the common at Stelling Minnis, worked into the 1970s and kept in working order.
Stelling Minnis
Smock mill above Herne, among the best preserved in Kent and still able to grind on open days.
Herne
Open-trestle post mill of 1868, one of the last of its kind, standing alone in fields near Sandwich.
Chillenden
Smock mill moved to Kingsdown and restored, standing white on the crest of the North Downs.
West Kingsdown
White smock mill of 1869 beside the motorway at Ashford, restored and open with a small tearoom.
Ashford
Smock mill on the edge of Margate, restored by a local trust and open on summer Sundays.
Margate
Restored five-storey tower mill on the eastern Wolds, now a visitor attraction with craft studios and a cafe.
Wymondham
The last surviving post mill in Leicestershire, an 18th-century timber mill owned by the SPAB and open on set days.
Kibworth Harcourt
Early-19th-century brick tower mill in the south-Leicestershire village of Ullesthorpe, a local landmark.
Ullesthorpe
Working 18th-century watermill on the River Slea at Sleaford, milling flour on event days on a site used for over a thousand years.
Sleaford
The last survivor of the mills that once lined Lincoln's western ridge, a restored four-sailed tower mill open to visitors.
Lincoln
Six-sailed English Heritage tower mill of 1877 near Boston, still grinding flour on windy days with a tearoom and shop below.
Sibsey
Six-sailed mill of 1880 south of Grimsby, all six sails intact, set in a park with a rural life museum, miniature railway and cafe.
Waltham
Five-sailed 1837 tower mill on the edge of the Wolds market town, still milling with a tearoom and shop in the yard.
Alford
Towering five-sailed 1819 mill on Boston's Maud Foster Drain, one of Britain's tallest working mills, climbable to all seven floors.
Boston
Distinctive five-sailed tower mill with an ogee cap at Burgh le Marsh; its sails and cap were lost in a 2020 storm and it now stands under restoration.
Burgh le Marsh
The tallest tower windmill in the country, a restored nine-storey giant near Spalding with a granary tearoom and shop.
Moulton
The last working post mill in Lincolnshire, a rare timber mill near Brigg turned to the wind on its central post on open days.
Wrawby
Tall marsh mill deep in the Halvergate levels, reachable only on foot, by rail or by boat.
Reedham
Tall black-capped Fenland tower mill near Downham Market, restored to working order.
Denver
Restored five-storey tower mill of 1846, one of the few Norfolk mills you can climb to the cap.
Great Bircham
Trim brick tower mill on the coast road near Mundesley, restored with a boat-shaped Norfolk cap.
Paston
Gleaming white drainage mill on the Thurne, one of the most photographed sights on the Broads.
Thurne
Handsome red-brick tower mill on the common near Scole, the last Norfolk corn mill to work by wind.
Billingford
Restored drainage mill and visitor centre on the Wherryman's Way, reachable by riverside moorings.
Hardley
Roadside drainage mill of 1883 on the Acle marshes, open through spring and summer.
Tunstall
Nine-storey tower mill near the Broads, said to be the tallest of its kind in the country.
Sutton
Restored 1820 tower mill grinding organic flour on the edge of the old Great North Road market town.
Tuxford
Restored working tower mill of the mathematician-miller George Green, grinding flour above Sneinton with a science centre alongside.
Sneinton
Working subscription tower mill of 1813, open on Saturdays and still grinding its own flour.
North Leverton
Standing 18th-century tower mill on the edge of North Leigh, a landmark on the Cotswold-fringe skyline.
North Leigh
Eighteenth-century octagonal tower mill above Wheatley, restored to working order and opened free on a handful of Sundays.
Wheatley
One of the largest stone tower mills in Britain, built around 1760 and restored to working order in 2013.
Great Haseley
A gleaming white weatherboarded post mill of 1796, an English Heritage landmark you can climb on Saxtead Green.
Saxtead
A tall six-storey tower windmill of 1836 with a working fantail, standing restored on the edge of Woodbridge.
Woodbridge
A restored 17th-century post mill run by volunteers, one of the Suffolk Mills Group's working survivors.
Stanton
Restored white tower mill of 1805 on Lytham green, now a small museum and the town's best-known emblem.
Lancashire
Towering restored 1794 tower mill at Thornton, one of the tallest in England, with a visitor centre.
Restored working 16th-century corn mill near Malpas, still grinding on open days by its millpond.
Grade II*-listed post mill on a two-storey roundhouse, one of the highest-sited windmills in Sussex, now largely private.
A brick tower mill on the Downs above the chalk holloway known as Halnaker's tree tunnel; reached on foot.
A National Trust place in Isle of Wight.
Isle of Wight
A National Trust place in Surrey.
A National Trust place in Hampshire.
Post mill near Mayfield, under long restoration and opened to visitors on selected days through the year.
A well-preserved eighteenth-century stone tower mill with cap and sails, standing on a rise near Chapel Allerton on the Levels.
Somerset
Restored 1821 tower mill above the Kennet and Avon Canal near Great Bedwyn, the only working windmill in Wessex, milling flour on open days.
Wiltshire
A National Trust place in Somerset.
Seven-storey stone tower mill of 1796 beside the Sow in Stafford, the tallest windmill in the Midlands, built from stone of the demolished Shire Hall.
A striking Grade I stone tower mill of 1632 raised on six arches above the Fosse Way, England's earliest surviving working tower mill.
Warwickshire
A hilltop tower mill landmark above Napton-on-the-Hill and the Oxford Canal, visible for miles across the Feldon (privately owned).
Early 19th-century post mill rescued and rebuilt in working order at the Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings.
Worcestershire
Hertfordshire's only surviving post mill, a white weatherboarded mill of about 1720 on a medieval mound near Ardeley, restored and open on summer afternoons.
Hertfordshire
A working four-sailed tower mill of 1821 near Beverley, the last operational windmill north of the Humber, with a rural-life museum.
East Riding of Yorkshire
A restored 1809 tower mill that has ground flour above the village for over two centuries and still sells its own.
Rutland
