Keen eyed locals may have noticed that the mill sails have been resting at an unusual angle this past week. This is because we have been paying our respects to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in the traditional way.

For centuries, windmills have communicated messages to local communities by leaving the sails at rest in particular positions. The mourning position as shown above (taken this week) shows the top sails just over the highest point – showing life is “going down hill”, there is a reason for mourning.

When the top sail is set just before it reaches the highest point, there are reasons to celebrate, a birth has taken place or a marriage.

The image above is borrowed from our Dutch colleagues (who share the same symbols): Top Left = the miller is taking a short rest

Top Right – the miller is taking a longer rest (how the mill is usually left between milling sessions)

Bottom Left = reason to celebrate and Bottom Right = mourning.

Maintenance Progressing

You can also see in the photo above that we have made progress over the last three weeks repairing cracks in the mill tower and repointing where chunks of brickwork have split away due to frost damage over the winter. The north face of the mill is particularly susceptible to frost damage and was hit badly this year. So, we make the repairs, and then re-coat the tower in a tar-like substance to keep it water-tight.

The underside of the fanstage has also had a new coat of paint and the metalwork which supports the fan frame has been cleaned and painted!

If you’ve had to wait a little longer for your flour over the last couple of weeks, our apologies! We had a bumper crop of orders over Easter and also had to divide our time between milling and maintenance whilst we were loaned a Cherry Picker to enable us to access the outside of the tower. Normal service has now resumed!

In this week’s update from Priors Flour HQ I’m pleased to update everyone on teeth – thankfully, not the miller’s molars, but the re-coging of the stonenut of the West millstones in the mill!

Now for the blog post I’ve put off writing!

With the 2020 harvest wheat now in production the increased prices of grain due to the poor 2020 harvest have now rippled through the production system. With this increased cost and other costs, in particular shipping costs having increased on the 1st January 2021, I am afraid I need to announce some small increases in our prices which will be effective from the 1st March 2021.

You may have read in the autumn of 2020 that grain prices had significantly increased due to the poor 2020 harvest. Our farmers have had to pass these costs on to us too and, whilst we have not passed all these costs on, we have had to adjust our prices accordingly.

We hope you will understand – the new prices will be visible from the 1st March 2021, both online and in the shop.

Over the New Year, we have transitioned from our 2019 harvest milling wheat to our 2020 harvest milling wheat.

As followers will know from previous blog posts, we carry out a series of controlled baking tests to assess a number of different samples of milling wheat from different farms in order to decide on the wheat with the best qualities and taste for you, our customers! We then purchase around 50 tonnes of wheat to see us through the year until the next harvest comes along.

The 2020 harvest proved a challenging one. Some of you will have watched my videos showing Samples A and B being put through their paces. Sadly, sample A which was the front runner failed some all-important mycotoxin tests. This was a sample from Cambridgeshire, so we were mightily disappointed, as was the farmer!

Introducing Adrian Steele & Chapel Farm, Netherton

After some further searching we received samples from Adrian Steele’s farm – Chapel Farm, Netherton, Worcestershire. We were delighted with the test bake results and so, we have now introduced his Mulika 2020 crop into production.

The Steele family has been growing wheat at Chapel Farm, in the Vale of Evesham Worcestershire, since the 1930’s. It’s deep alluvial clay soils are suited for traditional mixed farming,  and the farm became certified organic with the Soil Association in the 1980’s. Cattle and sheep graze the clover rich pastures and the mixture of crops include vegetables and flowers,  plums, Spelt wheat, milling rye, milling oats, and wheat varieties suitable for biscuits and bread. The high conservation values of the farm can be enjoyed by the public via a network of bridle ways and footpaths.

The Results

It is always great to also be able to showcase the flour and some of our customer’s fantastic bread baking skills. Here are some photos of loaves made by Stewart Travers using the 2020 harvest Prior’s White & Prior’s Rye flours.

Buy our 2020 harvest flours here! Please note – our product photos are not yet updated with the new harvest farm information.

Our apologies for the lack of updates from Prior’s Flour HQ! The New Year has seen lively shop and online flour sales, so thank you to everyone for your continued interest and business!

At the end of 2020, we completed an important piece of planned maintenance, the replacement of the Fantail Stocks and Blades. This critical piece of infrastructure enables the mill to turn into wind 24 x 7 x 365.

It works by catching gusts of wind which are blowing at any angle other than 0 & 180 degrees – so it stops when the mill is facing directly into the wind!

The fantail blades were originally made of separate boards of red deal (pine), but during the restoration of the mill, they were replaced with marine-grade plywood sheets. These proved very long lasting, but did not look quite correct.

Our millwright cut and shaped new Fanstocks – seen here made from Balau. This timber will last many years and is highly resistant to rot. The timber was then painted ready for installation.

Each of the old Fanblades were then removed, one by one – here you can see only two blades left! The fantail is not only critical to the safety of the mill, but also has to operate with a fine degree of balancing and precision. When the mill has to respond to a sudden change of wind direction (for instance in a storm), the fantail will turn at 30 – 40rpm – a blur, so it has to be perfectly balance and run true!

Here we see the new fanstocks being fitted and installed before the fanblades are fitted into each fanstock.

And finally, the completed job – the new fantail fitted with its tie-rods (which stiffen the blades) illuminated at night. You can see the joints of the fanblades – each board beautifully finished, running at 90 degrees to the fanstocks! Our millwright worked with old photos and the remaining fragment of the original fanblade and fanstock we have from the mill from the 19th Century to ensure that the angles and sizes are as close to the original measurements as possible!

Our thanks to millwrights Paul Kemp and Cam Southcott for their excellent work.