3-011-597 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Old Mill on Wimbledon-Common, lately removed, 1864. 'The destruction of a familiar landmark in one of the most noted places of the neighbourhood of London must not be allowed to pass without such a record of its aspect as the sketch we have this week engraved. The old windmill on Wimbledon-common has outlived several generations, and has always been recognised with some interest as one of the most picturesque and characteristic features of a rustic piece of scenery at no great distance from the metropolis, during the last four or five years the summer meetings of the National Rifle Association have drawn increasing multitudes of visitors to the ground which is overlooked by this conspicuous structure, and it has become known, probably, to hundreds of thousands who might otherwise never have resorted to the spot...There are, moreover, so few windmills in the country around London, that the disappearance of this specimen of the quaint mechanical contrivance, which steam will, doubtless, sooner or later supersede, not only here but everywhere else, must naturally be remarked'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.