Number by catalogue:  Michel: P31   Yvert: T31   Scott: J31   Gibbons: 31  

Perforation type: 14 ½x14 ½

Subject:

2 pences. Vale windmill*

Additional:

*Vale Windmill is a fivestorey tower mill that was built in 1854.

The original structure of the Vale Mill was built in 1770 out of wood and this structure stood on the site for 84 years before the wooden building was replaced with one made of local granite.

The mill originally operated as a flour windmill complete with large sails to drive its internal mechanisms and it remained in this state until the German Occupation of Guernsey in 1940.

When the German forces arrived they removed the sails to allow three extra stories to be added to the structure built using reinforced concrete, the same material as the German bunkers that can be seen around the island.

These extra stories included an anti-aircraft position and a range finding station. The station made use of the mill's height which gives it panoramic views across the whole northern half of Guernsey and out to Herm and Sark.

To provide camouflage for the building the German forces reattached the sails to the building so as any RAF aircraft flying over would assume it was a working mill and not a military target.

Following the war the States of Guernsey set about removing the German built concrete parts of the building, and so once more removed the sails.

The cost of this process meant it was never completed and two of the Occupation era floors remain, including the range finding station which in 2006 still featured the diagrams of the islands and other landmarks like those seen on the range finding posts at Castle Cornet.

Since the Second World War the mill remained largely unused and so had began to deteriorate, especially the interior wood. In the 1980s elements of the building were repaired ahead of a full renovation on the interior and exterior which was completed in 2006.

On 5 November 2008 the building auctioned on behalf of the States and was purchased by an unknown bidder for £57,000, though it is unclear what the building could be used for due to its unusual design.

Topics: Windmills