A film on Cambridgeshire on the British Film Institute archives. Barrington is covered at the beginning, and there is some footage of the windmill (in it's derelict, pre-restoration, state) around 1m40s in.
For 50 years the old tower mill at Barrington has remained idle; gradually it has fallen derelict and into a state of very bad disrepair. During the war its machinery was removed, dismantled, and used for scrap metal, and with modern methods coming in there was no necessity for it to be re-fitted and utilised in more recent times.
But the last of the clunch mills is not to disappear from the landscape of Cambridgeshire: it is to be converted into living accommodation by a business representative from Hatfield. Mr Tony O'Sullivan.
A member of the Eastern Counties Otter Hounds, he was in Barrington on a hunt in September of last year when he cam across the mill and considered it to be an ideal shell for a house. The owner, a Mr. Prime, a Barrington farmer, agreed to sell and forthwith plans were drawn up and an application made for a County Council grant. The Wind and Water Mill section of the Preservation Society were also contacted, when it was found to be necessary to remove the old wooden sails.
This somewhat ambitious endeavour is to be carried out by sub-contractors as soon as the grant is given. Meanwhile, Mr. O'Sullivan, a married man with a young daughter, spends his weekends clearing up the debris inside the building. The work is not entirely new to him, as he has already helped with the modernisation of three old houses; he regards it as a hobby more than anything else and would far prefer to live in a reconverted dwelling than in an new one, in spite of all the modern conveniences.
One thing about which he is rather sorry is the fact that it is impractical to have a chimney in a mill and so he has to have oil central heating. The ground floor, lying immediately above the cellar, is to be the lounge, and above that there will be two bedrooms and a study. To the left of the existing building, an extension will include a large kitchen bathroom and toilet, and a double garage.
Basically the structure is sound, although much of the surface will need cleaning and re-pointing. The intention is to retain the nature of the mill completely intact, making such adjustments as enlarging the windows under the existing arches, in order to meet with by-law requirements.
The surrounding garden which runs down to an attractive stream, will include a paddock and an area for keeping livestock. In all, the building work is expected to be at an advanced stage to provide the housing accommodation by next year although the while will not be completed for two or three more years.
Mr. O'Sullivan and his wife are both very excited about the project they have undertaken, even though, to the mere onlooker, at the present stage of development, the tasks look almost insurmountable.
A quick tour of the county would, alas, reveal a great number of derelict mills as I wrote at the beginning but there are at least two instances of basic structural preservation through the conversion of the tower of the mill into part of a dwelling-house. When I first photographed the Barrington Tower Mill some 10 years ago, it was derelict standing alone in a field south of the village. Today, the base of the tower is the circular drawing room of the proprietor of the Barrington Bird Farm, and as, with his kind permission, I took my photographs. I was watched by exotic birds uttering strange unfamiliar cries, and also by two owls who stared at me unblinkingly.
Bird farmer has called it a day
Barrington Bird Farm, home over the years to thousands of beautiful and exotic birds, has closed. The owner, Mr. Tony O'Sullivan, is planning to concentrate on his pet shop business in Hertfordshire. Now his house, a converted windmill, and the empty bird buildings are up for sale. There are 12 acres of land with a long frontage along the River Cam, and the asking price is £21,000. Mr O'Sullivan converted the derelict windmill in 1960 and opened the bird farm next door in 1964. At the busiest time during the Spring and Summer the farm had about 6,000 birds from talking parrots and mynahs to love birds and doves. In the winter there were about 3,000.
As soon as he has sold his Barrington home, Mr. O'Sullivan is moving to live nearer his pet and garden supply shop at Tring. "I could not continue to run two businesses 50 miles apart" he said. Mr O'Sullivan said that 70 percent of the bird farm business was done with ordinary people who were finding that because of the economic situation they just did not have the money to buy birds. He has sold all the stock and the only birds he has now are family pets. These, including a tame raven, will go with Mr. and Mrs. O'Sullivan and their children when they move.
Barrington Windmill still for sale
Barrington Windmill, once the home of Mr. Tony O'Sullivan and his bird farm, is attracting interest say the estate agents, thought it has still not been sold. Ekins, Dilley and Handley have been looking for a buyer for the converted mill, which is on the market for £35,000, since September 1973. "We are still showing people round." said a spokesman, "but we have not had quite the right man yet." The mill first went sale in 1969 when Mr. O'Sullivan, who is living abroad at present, closed down the Barrington Bird Farm which he ran for five years.
Barrington TL 386492
This mill was finished on 17th September 1822, which used to be inscribed on its first floor. Known as Orwell Mill, it was built of clunch ashlar and had four floors. In 1895 it was described as having two pairs of stones, a flour machine, sack tackle and a rigger so that a portable steam engine could be used. It was fitted with single-shuttered clockwise sails and was topped with a red-painted ogee cap with a weathercock. It was converted for domestic accommodation when the adjoining bungalow was built. Its top has been inappropriately crenelated.
The miller at the Old Mill was a tough wiry old man known as Little Old Carman. He carried a sack of flour from the mill to the Royal Oak Inn, drank a pint of beer, and carried it back. Then came Mr Hewison. By a marriage in 1815 it came in to the Prime family who still own it. When my late Father was a schoolboy in 1857 he was at the Mill with Nick Mosley unloading corn. A sudden gust of wind started the sails and hit old Nick and killed him.