MORGAN LEWIS WINDMILL in St Andrew is the last sugar windmill to operate in Barbados.
It stopped operating in 1947 but in 1962 the mill was given to the Barbados National Trust by its owner Egbert L. Bannister for preservation as a museum.
The site was listed in the 1996 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund. Restoration began by the Trust during the following summer.
In 1997, financial support was provided by American Express for emergency repairs. The mill was dismantled for restoration and reopened in 1999.
With all its original working parts having been preserved intact, the sails were able to turn again after the project was completed, and cane was ground again after more than half a century.
It is a unique historic and architectural monument – it is one of the only two working sugar windmills in the world today.
The other is at Betty’s Hope Estate in Antigua.
Around the interior of the mill wall is a museum of sugar mill and plantation artefacts, and an exhibition of old photographs. Visitors can climb to the top of the mill.
From December to April, the Barbados National Trust demonstrates grinding of sugar cane at Morgan Lewis. (From The Archives)
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