Historic piece of mill equipment has a new home in the Fens, near Newmarket, thanks to the efforts of volunteers

After an absence of 70 years a piece of millwrighting history is now safely back in Wicken and will go on public display next month.

The Wicken Windmill Partnership formally took ownership of the heavy duty, horse-drawn two-wheeled carriage usually known as a timber jill at the end of last year.

It was originally owned by the millwrights, Hunt Brothers of Soham, and may have been constructed by them in the late 19th Century. The jill spent its working life moving unprocessed timber and heavier finished mill components for its owners and was sometimes also rented out when not in use by them.

In 1988 it became a fixture at the Rural Life Living Museum based at Tilford in Surrey but when it was discovered it was no longer needed there a fund-raising appeal was launched to cover the costs of bringing it back to Cambridgeshire which quickly met its target.

Wicken millwright Kelvin Law, said: “When I first contacted the museum I was only requesting a photograph and dimensions of the jill, I did not expect that we would be able to acquire her and bring her home to Cambridgeshire.”

Earlier this month the jill’s fragile wheels were gently removed and prepared for transportation and together with the chassis were carefully loaded using the museum’s vintage AEC Militant timber crane and taken to Wicken Windmill where it will now undergo a light restoration and timber treatment.

And in line with the wishes expressed by Tom Hunt when he originally donated the jill, it will be displayed with the words: In memory of Thomas B. Hunt, millwright, of Waterside Works, Soham, Cambs.

The site of Hunt brothers’ Waterside works is now a housing estate so Kelvin said it was fitting the jill could now be viewed by visitors at a location nearby where it was very likely to have been used in the past. The first opportunity for visitors to see it will be during the windmill’s next open weekend on Saturday and Sunday March 1 and 2.

Having restored Wicken Windmill to full working order and continuing to work to maintain it the Wicken team is actively researching the history of local mills and millwrighting, with a particular interest in former local millwrights Hunt Brothers.

Any historic photographs of Wicken windmill or Hunt brothers’ Waterside works in Soham would be of great interest if any readers have them.