Great Horwood History |
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Shortly before one o’clock on Friday morning, the 1st instant, a fire broke out at Mr Reeve’s windmill situate on the Common, Great Horwood, burning it to the ground. The Winslow fire brigade with their engine were soon in attendance, but, owing to the scarcity of water, were unable to do more than keep the fire off adjoining buildings. It appears that during the previous day the machinery for stopping the mill had by some means become broken, and Mr Reeves had placed a large piece of timber against the sails to keep them from moving, but during the night the wind was so strong that it blew the piece of timber down, and worked the sails round at such a terrific rate as to set the machinery on fire by friction.
Drenched firemen from Winslow and Buckingham had their uniforms frozen on them as they fought the flames. Ice on a pond was broken for water and eventually the hoses froze so much that they could not be rolled up.