Bursledon Windmill wins £247,000 lottery grant for 2027 reopening

17 September 2026

Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust has secured a £247,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore Bursledon Windmill and reopen it to the public in 2027. Eastleigh Borough Council’s Bursledon, Hamble and Hound Local Area Committee has added £25,000 in match funding.

The five-storey tower mill on Windmill Lane closed at the end of March 2024 after Hampshire Cultural Trust pulled out, once council grants that had kept the site running were withdrawn.

Hampshire’s only surviving working windmill has stood without its sails since then. A small volunteer team, and a local equipment appeal that raised £3,540, have been holding the grounds and buildings from further decline while the Trust looked for a longer-term settlement.

The lottery money is for repairs and improvements. Reinstating the sails is the work most people will notice first. The Trust also intends to recruit staff, work with Bursledon Brickworks Museum and local volunteers, and bring the mill’s all-wooden machinery back into use so it can grind flour by wind power, something it has not done for more than a decade.

Peter Goodship, chairman of the Trust, said National Lottery players had given the mill a future. “We can now look forward to welcoming visitors back, seeing the sails turning once again and restoring the windmill’s ability to produce flour using wind power alone.”

Built in 1814 and listed Grade II, the mill was rescued by the Trust from the late 1970s and reopened to visitors in 1991. Without the grant, the Trust said the building would have been at risk of being lost. Later plans include small events, educational visits and weddings.

Regular visiting remains closed, though the mill opened for Heritage Open Days on 16 September. The Trust says it will keep residents informed as the work proceeds.