Historical Development of the Windmill - Wind Turbine Technology: Fundamental Concepts of Wind Turbine Engineering - page 21

Figure 1-11. Details of the complex construction of a fully-developed English post mill
at Brill. The names of the parts are listed in Table 1-1 [Freese 1957]. (Reprinted by
permission of Cambridge University Press)
mills had a limited life, even when what we now call retroits were made. The oldest post
mill still standing in the United Kingdom is certiied to be from at least 1636, by
documentary evidence. This is not the date of its building but of its known existence at the
time, so the mill may be older yet.