brixton windmill

England was in the middle of a huge transition from a manual labour and draft animal-powered economy towards machine-based manufacturing in the period that the Brixton Windmill was built. The industrial revolution started with the mechanisation of the textile industry in the 18th century and soon spread into other spheres of production. The Brixton Windmill was built during a truly astonishing period where the effects of mechanisation and the invention of steam-powered engines and later the internal combustion engine were rapidly spreading throughout Western Europe and North America;

The first commercially successful steam engine appeared around 1712. Designed by Thomas Newcomen, an ironmonger from Devon, steam engines began to replace traditional technologies. As the 18th century progressed engineers improved on this design with James Watt modifying Newcomen’s design so that it burnt 75% less coal – making it much cheaper to run. This also enabled factories to be sited away from rivers or not be dependent on the changeable and fickle wind. The first Watt engine was installed in 1776. 

By 1786, Samuel Wyatt had built the famous Albion Mills, a rotary steam-powered flourmill that used Watt’s invention. It was London's first great factory, producing six thousand bushels of flour a week. Seen as a wonder of the modern world, it became London's symbol for the industrial revolution before it was burnt down in 1791. The arsonists were never found, but it was thought to be local millers who feared ruination.