The Peter Hedges Collection


Since the days of Don Quixote, windmills and quests have been intimate bedfellows. Peter Hedges' quest was to photograph all the standing windmill remains in England and Wales, a quest he largely undertook between 1989 and 1995. Whilst he never completed his quest, he did build up a substantial collection of photographs of about 700 windmills throughout the UK.

The trips on which he took his photographs were meticulously planned. Much of the work in locating the windmills or their remains was performed by a painstaking square by square search of the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps, and indeed Peter corresponded with the Ordnance Survey itself, to inform them of both omissions, and inclusions of since demolished mills.

The trips themselves, accomplished in Peter's distinctive Red Volkswagen Beetle, could last for days, with each day's targets, and hence that night's accomodation carefully planned ahead of time. The results of the trips were written up in Peter's neat handwriting - with all photos so well identified and dated that is a pleasure to deal with them.

Following the death of his wife, Peter took less trips, but living in Alkborough, Lincolnshire, he was still within sight of a windmill. He kept up his interest, and produced a slide show presentation on windmills, which included research on his local mill at Alkborough.

Peter Hedges About Peter
Peter was born in Chadwell Heath in 1927. He spent most of his life in and around north and west London before moving to Windsor in 1956. He worked for The Fairey Aviation Company at Heston beginning in 1941 as toolmaker and later as a draughtsman. A move to work for EMI was followed by retirement in 1985. He moved to Alkborough in North Lincolnshire in 1990 and died in March 2003.

Extracts from Peter's collection are presented on this site, thanks to the generosity of his son and daughter-in-law. As time permits, more of the photos will be included. Photos will be found on appropriate pages throughout the site.

Mill ID 1460
Marsh Mill: Thornton, Lancashire, 2/4/89 - {The Peter Hedges Collection}
with Peter's Volkswagen Beetle parked nearby

Selected images from the collection

Mill ID 1695
Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire, 20/3/89 - {The Peter Hedges Collection}

Mill ID 1713
Pitstone Green, Buckinghamshire, 20/3/89 - {The Peter Hedges Collection}

Mill ID 1876
Skidby, East Yorkshire, 8/4/89 - {The Peter Hedges Collection}

Mill ID 1664
Nixey's Mill: Brill, Buckinghamshire, 2/5/89 - {The Peter Hedges Collection}

Mill ID 1833
Grove's Mill: Coleshill, Buckinghamshire, 2/5/89 - {The Peter Hedges Collection}

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Last updated 03/03/2017 Text and images © Mark Berry, 1997-2017 -
Some images © The Peter Hedges collection