'Rare' six-sailed windmill near Boston to re-open following a five-year conservation project (VIDEO and PICTURES)

As well as restoring Sibsey Trader Windmill to full working order, the charity has installed new displays and trained volunteer millers, offering a hands-on visitor experience.

Built in 1877, the landmark was one of the last mills to be constructed in Lincolnshire.

“As a rare six-sailed windmill, with its superior engineering and increased efficiency in low wind, Sibsey Trader Windmill dates from the peak of British milling technology making it one of England’s most important historic agricultural structures and a landmark of our rural landscape,” a spokesman for English Heritage said.

English Heritage’s restoration project has involved completely rebuilding and replacing Sibsey Trader Windmill’s cap and sails, as well as constructing and replacing the curb (the iron track at the top of the tower that allows the cap to turn).

The charity has also removed the mill’s impermeable black coal tar coating, fully repointed its red brick and dried out the structure, to protect its historic fabric for future.

Visitors will now have the opportunity to explore the windmill’s history and its place within the wider historic landscape, discover the workings behind it, the charity says.

Rob Negus, volunteer and community engagement manager for English Heritage, said: “For many years, Sibsey Trader Windmill was at the heart of the local community; Lincolnshire’s economy was fuelled by the farming and processing of cereals such as wheat. By preserving this incredible building, making it operational again and telling its story to future generations, we hope to ensure that it remains an important part of the community for many years to come.

“We’re continuing to recruit passionate volunteers from the local area, with the aim of selling our flour and working with a local baker to produce a range of sweet treats made with it. We also intend to start baking workshops on site, so it becomes a real community farm-to-fork experience – seeing the wheat fields from the windmill’s balcony, milling the grain, baking with the flour and then savouring the end product!”

English Heritage worked closely with Suffolk Millwright on the windmill’s restoration.

“It is an example of the vital work the charity is doing at hundreds of sites up and down the country, not only in caring for and restoring important historic buildings but also in supporting at-risk heritage skills such as millwrighting,” a spokesman said.

Sibsey Trader Windmill will be open on the first weekend of every month, starting on Saturday and Sunday May 2 and 3. Entry prices are discretionary, with a suggested donation of £2.50 per adult and £1.50 per child. English Heritage members go free.

For more information on Sibsey Trader Windmill or to book a visit, go to www.english-heritage.org.uk/sibsey-trader-windmill or, to volunteer at the windmill, visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/volunteer