History

Beacon Windmill was built in 1858 for William Hammond a local landlord of the Raven Hill Estate. (He advertised in 1857 for a windmill builder in the Malton Messenger Newspaper).

In 1858 when his daughter Frances married Rev Johnson Barker at Peak Church (Ravenscar was then know as Peak) part of the reception was held at the Windmill for the workers of the estate.

The Windmill was in use until 1902 when in November of that year, and with only two of it’s four arms intact, it lost both in a gale during the night. The miller had set them before retiring for the night, to the west, but the gale wind changed to the east and set them revolving in the reverse direction. The miller was woken by the noise and climbed to the top of the mill. He tried to stop the arms but was unable to do so. He had no sooner reached the mill house next door when both arms blew off. A part of one arm was actually blown right across the road into the quarry from where the stones came to build the tower.

The machinery was taken for scrap to assist with the war effort. The mill became derelict and was later used as a film location for 2 episodes of the tv drama ‘Heartbeat’. The Windmill became a listed building in 2001.

The present owners purchased the property in 2013 and have totally transformed it from a ‘bare shell’ to the unique cosy, comfortable holiday let which it is today.