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There has been a windmill in Wimbledon since 1817, when it was built by Charles March. Even then it was unusual, March had constructed it along the lines of Dutch design rather than the traditional British structure. In 1847 the windmill came to wider public notice when it featured in Jean de Fleury’s painting A Boy Fishing. But by 1864 grain-grinding had ceased and the machinery removed and replaced by residential accommodation, six tiny apartments for poor families (perhaps even less surprising when you learn that less than 100 yards away was a shooting range). For ever under threat, it was not until the 1970s that the local authority took action and the windmill was full repaired and later converted into a museum.
