Warrenpoint Windmill:a heart gladdening sight to the sailor

The Windmill once towered over everything in Warrenpoint!

It was equipped with five pairs of mill stones and a state of the art high pressure steam engine.

It was a hub of local agricultural commerce in South Down in the mid 1800’s.

The Warrenpoint Windmill was said to :

“produce the best quality of wheat in the county!”

It is being celebrated and remembered in 2018 by the Warrenpoint Men’s Shed who have made a functioning replica complete with turning sales!

The replica will be on a display tour in various venues over the next couple of months.

Meantime check out our video of this faithful recreation of wonderful piece of Warrenpoint history.

Check out the wonderful video here from Shedders Marty Smith (Warrenpoint Men’s Shed) and Mark Gibbons (Rostrevor Men’s Shed) HERE

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MQJI8-eN6s&feature=youtu.be” /]

Warrenpoint Windmill: the Origins

The sales of the Warrenpoint Windmill were over 42 feet in length.

It was built by Robert Turner in 1802.

Locals knew it as “Turner’s Mill”.

The Windmill was up for let by the Turner family in 1828 described as:

“one of the best and most delightful situations in the North of Ireland”

The mill was operated at one point by Issac William Glenny & Sons.

You can see advertisements in the Northern Whig and The Newry Telegraph in 1845 and 1846 of the business opportunity to lease the Windmill offering “advantages seldom to be met”!

The Windmill in Warrenpoint was referenced in the Dublin Penny Journal of 1834

Warrenpoint had a population of 2000 people at the time the Windmill was in action.

Corn and wheat grown in the local farms was milled at the Windmill which would have supplied the local bakeries.

You can see in the paper ad, the wheat grown in the surrounding farms was “abundant and of the best quality”

Pigit’s Dictionary of 1824 mentions the Windmill.

“One can well imaging that it’s sentinel , the old windmill, was a heart gladdening sight to the sailor home from sea”

In 1824, Warrenpoint was described as a:

‘small but rapidly improving town… contains a large number of lodging houses for the accommodation of visitors, hot and cold baths, and an excellent inn.”

A newspaper report in the Newry Telegraph on 27 July 1879 describes how the sails of the Windmill were removed as they presented a danger, with their removal being “regretted by none”.