Tysoe Windmill

Tysoe Windmill stands on top of Windmill Hill, about 180m high, between Upper Tysoe and Compton Wynyates in Tysoe, west of Banbury. It is an eighteenth-century tower mill of ironstone, listed Grade II, and it worked until lightning struck it in 1915. A public footpath runs right past it, so the climb is the visit.

The story of Tysoe Windmill

Ron Thorpe's account for Our Warwickshire dates the mill to the early eighteenth century, and Historic England's listing to the eighteenth. It stands on the boundary between the parishes of Tysoe and Compton Wynyates. It ground corn until 1915, when it was struck by lightning.

The mill has been mended several times since. Thorpe records new sails in 1935, a restoration in 1951 and a last full restoration between 1968 and 1975 by D. Ogden, paid for by the Marquess of Northampton. He says it still contains all its machinery, with two pairs of stones.

Tysoe once had a second mill. A post mill was built in 1752 and destroyed in a storm in 1923, and nothing of it is left.

What to look for

The tower is twelve-sided in Thorpe's description and polygonal in the listing's, in squared, coursed ironstone, and it tapers towards the top from a plinth. Look for the plank door in a round-headed arch with a quoined surround, the small plank door beside it under a chamfered stone lintel, and the weatherboarded section at the back at the top. Thorpe describes a conical cap covered in aluminium, with a finial and a tail for the winding gear.

The sails are the thing to check on the day. Thorpe's article says the sails and stocks were removed for safety, while a reader's comment in 2019 reports recent sails. We could not confirm which is true now.

Visiting Tysoe Windmill

The mill is not open inside, so this is a walk to the top of the hill. OpenStreetMap shows public footpath SS44 passing within a few metres of the mill, with a flight of steps near the top. It is open hillside: wear boots after rain, and keep to the path. We found no rule on dogs from the landowner, so keep them close where there is stock.

Getting there

Upper Tysoe is on the minor roads south of the A422, west of Banbury. We found no car park, so park considerately in the village and pick up the footpath up the hill.

Nearby

Upton House, the National Trust house on Edge Hill, is a short drive east. The ridge itself, with the Edge Hill viewpoint and the Edgehill battlefield below it, is beyond. For the vale's lost hill figure, read our story of the Red Horse of Tysoe, and for another restored mill, the Warriner windmill near Bloxham.