A Grade-II listed windmill on the Herts/Bucks border is on the market.

The local landmark was built in 1860 in what is now a drive on the edge of the village green at Croxley Green. Covering nineteen and a half acres, it’s one of the longest village greens in England.

The miller in 1861 was Isaac Watts who remained in charge of flour production until the 1880s when the sails blew off.
From 1886 onwards the mechanism was driven by steam power.

It was last used to grind wheat in 1899.

After that it became a saw mill and turnery but it had ceased to be an industrial building by the outbreak of World War II when it was needed as a look-out post.

In the 1930s it had been turned into a chicken shed and pigeon loft and the land in the immediate vicinity belonged to the Territorial Army.

A siren was mounted on the tower of the newly requisitioned observation post to warn residents to take cover when enemy aircraft were heading their way.

Although the mill underwent several changes during its first 100 years, today it has been in the same ownership since the 1960s.

A nephew of the late owner told the Free Press his uncle bought it as a project. “He converted it himself, he enjoyed working on it, it was his hobby.

“He did all the work on the mill himself but he hired a professional builder in the 1970s to build the extension. He didn’t move in until the late 1970s.

“The layout is the same now as it was when he designed it. He was in his late 80s when he died.”

The agents at Savills in Rickmansworth are inviting offers over £1m.

Graeme Warren who is handling the sale says the building needs updating but “it has excellent potential to create a stunning property.”

On the ground floor is a hall with a cloakroom, 22ft lounge/dining room and a circular workshop which has been used as a party room from time to time.

On the first floor is the kitchen/breakfast room, main bathroom and two bedrooms with beamed ceilings, fitted cupboards and views over the grounds. 

On the second floor is a circular sitting room with four windows. There’s also a door (currently blocked off) which once opened onto a balcony with steps down to ground level. 

At the top of the tower is the third bedroom with the best views over the grounds.

The garden amounts to about half an acre which includes the double garage. The angular flat roof on the 1970s extension was re-roofed in 2014. It comes with a 30 year guarantee.

*The converted windmill in Wendover for sale last autumn through Savills in Amersham (Property: October 20, 2017) was withdrawn from the market after the owner accepted an offer of a long term rental.

The tower mill on the Aylesbury Road is thought to be the second largest in England. The owner restored it from top to bottom after she bought the 66ft octagonal tower in 2008.

When the last of her children left home she hired out the mill as a self catering holiday cottage. It can sleep up to ten and was much in demand for large family get-togethers.

Eventually the amount of paperwork and maintenance involved with running the business and the constant change-overs for short-term stays became too labour intensive and time-consuming for an owner with perfectionist standards and she put it on the market for £1.25m. “There was a lot of interest in it,” the agent reported this week. 

“The owner was very fond of the mill. In the end she agreed to let it to a tenant who wanted to take it on a long term basis.”