Lisa Hendrix

Tuxford, the village where Steinarr moved the giant egg to find the next clue, is an ancient village situated along the Great Northern Road (A-1) in Nottinghamshire. In the past, it’s was called Tuxford in the Clays, Tuckers Ford, and in the Domesday Book, Tuxfarne.

When I first wrote chose Tuxford, I didn’t know much more about it than its location, and I made up a windmill based on the slight elevation there. Imagine my pleasure when I was not only able to confirm the existence of a modern windmill in the town (built in 1820), but discovered that you can actually see the windmill and the shadow of its blades in the Google map I marked up! (click it over to satellite view and zoom way in on the Tuxford pin)

Windmills were introduced into England by the Normans during the 11th and 12th centuries. The early mills were all post mills, meaning the entire mill was built around a single post, and the whole structure was rotated to face the blades into the wind. Starting in about 1300, new technology was introduced with the tower mill, in which only the cap of the tower has to be turned to face the blades properly. This construction, though more challenging, provides great savings in the effort required to turn the blades and gives the miller a lot more storage. According to Wikipedia, tower mills provided around 25% of the industrial power before the advent of the steam engine and coal power in the six centuries from 1300-1900.

Have you ever wondered why windmills almost always have an even number of blades?  It’s simple: redundancy.  If you have a 4-blade mill and a blade breaks or a sail tears, you can still run the mill with 2 blades, although at only about 60% power.  If you have a 6-blade mill, it will work with 4 blades, 3 blades or even just 2 blades, so long as you can keep the forces balanced.  On the other hand, break a blade on a 3-blade mill or a 5 blade mill, and you’re out of business. Trying to operate the mill unbalanced will literally tear it apart.