Bradwell Windmill, Bradwell

I have a strange relationship with Easter. It always feels like it should be a more special, more significant moment in the calendar but it’s really not for me. Most years, I just appreciate the long weekend off work and the chocolate but all too often it leaves me feeling restless, as though I’m missing the point somehow. This year, it does actually feel special, a genuine time for new beginnings. It’s probably because we’re having an exceptionally beautiful spring… it’s felt like it’s been a long time coming, winter was dark and slow, but everything really is bursting to life at the moment and my walks have been a delight of blossom and unfurling leaves. We’re coming out of the shadows, and not a moment too soon.

And talking of renewal and regeneration: I heard this week that one of my favourite MK landmarks is going to be getting some serious investment and restoration. I knew the old building was creaking at the seams a little, you can see where it’s been patched up over the years. I’d gone along to the last Heritage Open Day for a chance to look around inside, and you can tell that it’s seen better days. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a treat to go behind the doors that are usually forbiddingly locked tight and see the old machinery up and running although I baulked at the narrow steps up to the second floor. However, even from outside, you can see that the brickwork is crumbling, the window-frames warped in places so it was great news that the local Council are going to invest nearly half a million pounds towards bringing it back to life. The restoration work is due to start in May which feels really soon, so I decided to head over today to take a few ‘before’ photographs while I could.

The windmill you can see today isn’t actually that ancient, it was built in the early nineteenth century, but there has apparently been a mill on this site for a lot longer. And of course, I wouldn’t be including it here if it didn’t have a reputation for being haunted 🙂 Going back to my key source for such things, James Willis’s Mysterious Milton Keynes says:

In 1685 the daughter of a local miller was courted by two young men. One of her would-be-suitors killed the other in a fit of jealousy, and he was subsequently gibbeted for the murder. Shortly afterwards the young girl herself was found dead in her father’s mill. Her ghost is now said to haunt Bradwell Mill.

Various other sources embellish the story somewhat, and suggest that the poor girl hung herself, and her dangling body was actually discovered by her distraught father. Some go into detail about when and how her ghost is supposed to appear—I particularly like the idea that her eternal heartbroken sobbing can be heard if you put your ear to the door, and I can’t help picturing her gaunt spectre gazing out of the upper windows—but the key beats seem to remain consistent… a doomed love triangle, a murder, a hanging, a suicide and a lingering spirit who haunts the scene of her final moments.

I spent a good while sitting on the back steps of the windmill this morning, listening out any for eerie sobs or slowly shuffling ghostly footsteps inside… all I heard were a pair of magpies cursing at each other, and the background sound of wind through the trees. I did clamber round to look closely through the one side window that’s easy to get to, but there was nothing moving inside. I craned my neck to look up at those high windows, but if there was a bereft shade gazing back at me, they gave no sign. It’s becoming a source of half-amusement, half-frustration that I’m probably the last person who’s actually going to have a paranormal experience at any of these sites I explore! Ah well. I enjoy spooking myself, that’s the main thing.

I’ve been quietly fascinated by windmill’s ghost for a while now, and nearly used a very short story about her as my submission for the Dreams for Lammas competition last year. In the end, the Devil’s Den story won out, but in honour of the renovation news, I’ve dug out my story, given it a polish and published it on here: Remembering the Miller’s Daughter. Enjoy!