By Cllr Adrian Garden, Councillor for Brixton Hill
John Ashby’s Windmill (aka Brixton Windmill) is now the nearest mill to the centre of London. It was built in 1816 in farmland on top of a hill. In the mid 1850s the surrounding cornfields were replaced by houses, so the strength of the wind reduced catastrophically, and the family decamped to their watermill on the Wandle at Mitcham. When that lease ran out in 1902, the family came back and installed a mill powered by a steam engine on the first floor, which is still there, though now powered by electricity. The business finally ceased in 1934.

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