Dunstable Yesteryear: Cricket match alongside the old windmill
Local landowner Richard Gutteridge built the windmill in West Street, Dunstable, in 1839.
It’s seen here, in a photo taken in around 1904, providing an imposing background to a cricket match on Dunstable Grammar School’s playing field.
The field, also used for rugby and hockey, was quite a distance from the school. Generations of pupils would walk in their sports kit from West Parade to the changing rooms at the school buildings in High Street North..
The windmill’s tower is still standing, used today as the headquarters of Dunstable Sea Cadets. The windmill’s sails, a landmark feature in this photo, were removed in 1908 when an engine was introduced to provide a more-reliable source of power.
Corn continued to be ground there by the miller, Frank Simmons, until just before the Second World War when the windmill was transformed into a club, complete with a bar, a table-tennis room and a roller-skating area. It was also used as an observation post by the Home Guard during the war.
The sea cadets moved into the tower in 1948 having been formed with the considerable help of Admiral Sir Lionel Preston, who had come to live in Dunstable in 1935 after a distinguished naval career.
Ashton St Peter’s Primary School now stands on part of the grammar school field. The grammar school buildings have been converted into the Ashton Grove development.
Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.