#stoneground

Brixton Windmill

Once upon a time (up to the mid-19th Century), Brixton was mostly fields. In 1816, in these open fields, a windmill was built, and the following year acquired by John Ashby, part of a milling family. The Ashbys produced a stoneground wholemeal flour from the mill until 1862; by this time, Brixton had fewer fields and more house, which prevented sufficient wind from reaching the mill to turn the sails.

The Ashbys removed the sails from the mill, and kept the tower as a storage facility, moving their business to watermills further south in Mitcham. In 1902, technological advances allowed the Ashbys to install a steam-driven millstone in the windmill, and resume the production of flour. This continued until 1934 (with steam power later changing to gas power), when the last miller, Joshua Ashby, passed away.

London County Council acquired the mill in 1957, and from the 1960s onwards the building went through several cycles of restoration for public visits, followed by neglect and vandalism. English Heritage placed the windmill on their Buildings at Risk register in 2002. In 2010, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant for the restoration of the windmill. This secured the restoration of the sails, cap and tower, the conversion of the steam/gas millstone to electrical power. The mill is now open for guided tours on selected weekends, and still produces a fine wholemeal flour for visitors to purchase.

Various Artists

Medicine Ball Caravan Soundtrack 

@ 1971 US Pressing

*****

Another largely forgotten event , overshadowed by the gi-normous Isle Of Wight Festival which took place on the same weekend . The festival was a hastily organized affair ,being the last concert of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour ,a strange affair which hosted a veritable horde of counter culture aficionados drawn from the ranks of the pranksters and the Hog Farm collectives. Ostensibly created to display the strengths of the counterculture- unity, peacefulness and alternative lifestyles, the tour was actually being paid for by Warner Brothers , who intended to make a profitable movie from the end product. These internal contradictions drew criticism from a number of the more extreme counterculture activists ( many coming from the same head space that the activists who sabotaged the Isle of Wight festival fences ) and their objections to the commercial aspects of the tour feature in the movie that eventually was released in 1971.

This was the background behind this particular festival, which was given minimal publicity at the time and despite featuring Pink Floyd and the Faces , only drew a crowd of some 1500. According to our sources , some 20 odd buses , filled to the gills with tie died coloured teepees, were brought over for the festival, which provided free food for all, as in the grand old Hog Farm tradition .The festival also boasted a stellar sound system for the time , provided by Alembic studios, who made equipment for the Grateful Dead (who were supposed to be the original house band for the tour, but who pulled out for unknown reasons ) . Their place was taken by Stoneground, a ten piece band from the Bay Area, who featured amongst their numbers bass player Pete Sears ( who went on to play for Jefferson Airplane ) . Sears was playing at this festival (see below ) and Sal Valentino and John Blakeley definitely performed as well at the Canterbury gig .

On the US leg of the tour , the Caravan had featured (in addition to Stoneground ) Alice Cooper, BB King and Doug Kershaw, but by the time the show rolled into the UK Stoneground were the only band left who had played the earlier concerts. To obtain Pink Floyd for the last show was a major coup and it is strange that they did not appear in the final film - which was edited twice, the original version by French director François Reichenbach and Gerard Patris. This cut was rejected by Warners , who brought in the young Martin Scorcese to make a more commercial version of the movie.

It is possible the UK bands did not give permission for their footage to be used. which would be regrettable , as those who were present attest to this being an excellent concert -great performances, great sound and a cool light show .The Floyd played Atom Heart Mother during their set and commented that this had been the best festival they had played all year so far .

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