The little-known profession keeping windmills alive

Windmills up and down the country are adored and admired - but not everyone knows about those working behind the scenes to ensure these historic structures are kept running.

In Suffolk, two millwright companies work across the county and beyond to design, craft, erect and maintain windmills and their sails.

Timothy Whiting runs Suffolk Millwright based in Dennington while James Forsyth runs Norfolk Millwright based near Southwold.

Both men, who collaborate with each other and are passionate about their craft, believe they are some of the last remaining millwrights.

Speaking about how he joined the profession, Mr Whiting said: "I grew up in Friston which has one of the finest post mills in the country and I was working there as a cabinet maker.

"I trained as a cabinet maker in Ipswich and that's where I met Vincent Pargeter, who was an Essex millwright, and he had come to give the windmill an MOT. It all went from there.

"He came into the workshop and asked if I would help him on various projects and I never looked back."

Mr Whiting said working windmills were "hard to find these days", but he had worked on a vast number all across the country from Merseyside to Kent.

Mr Forsyth, as well as sub-contractors including Alex Hunter and Gary May, all initially started as shipwrights before he started to repair his own windmill where he lives.

"I recruited the guys that are here now who were formerly at the International Boatbuilding Training College which is no longer anymore," he explained.

"We worked on that mill to start with and started to progress.

"Because we had so many requests to carry on working on other people's mills, local authorities mainly, we decided to set up a large workshop here in Suffolk to continue that work."

Mr Forsyth has been a millwright for the past seven years and after setting up his business and he now works on mills in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Kent.

Mr Forsyth believed he, as well as Mr Whiting, are just two of four millwright companies in the UK, but he added there may be individual millwrights still working on their own.

Part of being a millwright involves crafting and then transporting the sails which can sometimes be more than 20 metres long (65ft).

Mr Whiting explained specialised lorries were needed to transport them, along with escorts, to help manoeuvre the roads.

In one instance, Mr Whiting said the team had to deliver a sail by barge as they were unable to get it to the windmill via roads.

Mr Whiting said he loved his job for a wealth of reasons.

"It's wonderful to come out here - we've got a workshop that's based on repairing machines that are 200 years old," he said.

"These sails will soon be carted out, we'll have massive lorries here taking them out, we'll have cranes on site, so it's all the big-boy toys really.

"It doesn't get any better than that."

Mr Forsyth said people had "absolutely no idea" what his profession was when he explained he was a millwright, but he echoed Mr Whiting's love for the trade.

"When we finish one we don't really want to leave it," he added.

"We've lovingly brought it back to life, it's like leaving one of your children behind."

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