Poole - Brownsea Island

Present OS map : 1955 & 1962 7th series OS has wind pump symbol

Google Maps

The windmill A wind pump used to drain reclaimed land on the island

The Millers n/a

Present site condition Unknown - does it exist ? Island owned by National Trust.

Notes and comments

A six vaned wind water pump, dating from the mid 19th century, features on a plan drawn up for the sale of the island in 13th July 1899. This wind pump was installed by a very industrous owner Col William Petrie Waugh who after buying the island in 1852, set about making it a thriving community based on a pottery industry using the island's underlying clay.^[1]

His most ambitious task was to reclaim some 100 acres of land in the St Andrew's Bay area of the island. He used over a million bricks to construct a sea wall and installed the windpump to pump out the seawater. The whole island venture failed within 20 years and Col Waugh fled with very heavy debts.

In 1881 in his 'A sketch of Brownsea Island' the Rev Theophilus Bennett refers to these works : .......he has succeeded in rescuing about 100 acres which he keeps dry by ingenious contrivances - such as perpetually revolving windmills, & other devices.^[2] The 1st edition OS map of 1901 (but surveyed in 1888) shows a low lying area behind a dyke type wall to the north east side of the island bordering an area annotated as St Andrews Hill. The windpump is not shown although the letter P appears against the dyke and sites the pump.

^[1] Battrick, Jack Brownsea Islander Poole Historical Trust p22

^[2] Legg, Rodney Dorset's Fantasy Island (1986) p47.