Burwell Museum’s last remaining windmill is to be restored thanks to a £19,400 grant from the National Lottery.

Stevens’ Mill, which celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2020, was saved from demolition in the 1970s. It has since undergone extensive restoration to bring it back to working order.

Visitors are now able to tour the four-storey mill and see how flour is made. However, being so heavily reliant on the right weather conditions means that the mill cannot always be operated.

Alison Giles, museum manager, said: “To enable the mill to run in all weathers and in any season – just as it would have done in the early 20th century under its last owners, the Stevens’ brothers – the Burwell Museum Trust plans to upgrade the mill’s drive pulley system and renovate a 1950s tractor to run it.

“The museum has evidence of traction engines in use at Stevens’ Mill as late as the 1950s. In fact, local residents still remember the sound of the engines working until dusk; their voices and memories will form part of the museum’s enhanced interpretation of the mill as part of the project.”

Work on the restoration project has already begun and it is scheduled to be completed in time for National Mills Weekend in May 2018.