| Collection | Muggeridge Collections of Mill Maps |
| Description | Photos of castles, gateways, farms, bridges, cottages, mills and market houses.
Castle (ruins), Bramber, Sussex, March 1925/Bodiam castle-Sussex, April 1926/Hurstmonceux Castle-Sussex, March 1926/Bodiam castle-Sussex, April 1926/Norman castle-Pevensey, Sussex, Oct 1924/Roman wall-Burgh castle, Norfolk, part of south side showing Roman method of building, July 1911/Roman gate-Pevensey, Sussex, Oct 1924/Roman gate, Pevensey, Sussex, March 1926/Churchill rectory-dated 1450, Winchester, Hants, 13 May 1906/Gateway-Lewes Castle, Sussex, Aug 1924/Stone style, Marldon, South Devon, April 1930/Vale Wood Farm, Itchingfield, Sussex, Sep 1927/Ruined toll house-near Teignmouth, South Devon, May 1929/Old toll house-on the bridge, Wallingford, Berkshire, 6 August 1906/Old toll house-Kingston near Lewes, Sussex, 27 Sep 1923/Old toll house-near Midhurst, on the Petworth and Petersfield road, 3 Dec 1905/Old town hall-Godalming, Surrey, built 1814, 28 Feb 1906/Old market house-Godalming, Surrey, built 1814, 18 Oct 1905, known locally as "The pepper box"/Old cottages-Peasmarsh Common near Guildford, used as "Pest houses" during the greatLondon plague in 1665, 10 Dec 1905/Old town hall, Fordwich, Kent, built in 14th century, 22 June 1906/Old mill-Pyrford, Surrey, Sep 1904/Emmetts mill-Chobham, Surrey, 24 Aug 1904/Old water mill-Newton Abbot, South Devon, Sep 1926/Old water mill-Newton Abbot, South Devon, Sep 1926/Steyning mill, Sussex, Nov 1924/Steyning mill, Sussex, Nov 1924/Poynings mill, Sussex, Dec 1924/Poynings mill, Sussex, Dec 1924/Barcombe mills, Sussex, Nov 1924/Fittleworth mill, Sussex, Nov 1924/Hardham mill, Sussex, Nov 1924/Heath mill-Worplesdon, Surrey, 4 Sep 1904/Old watermill-Elsernoe, Sussex, May 1935/Old water mill-Lurgashill, Sussex, May 1935/Sowton mill, Dunsford, South Devon, June 1941/Old bridge-Stopham, Sussex, built 1309, June 1906/Old bridge, Fittleworth, Sussex, Nov 1924/Timber bridge-Shoreham, Sussex, built 1781, Oct 1924/Old bridge-Pulboro, Sussex, Nov 1924/Easting bridge, Surrey, 17 Sep 1905/Easting bridge, Surrey, 17 Sep 1905/Easting bridge, Surrey, 17 Sep 1903 /Old Saxon bridge-known locally as Harold's bridge, Waltham Abbey, Hertfordshire, built 1066, 29 June 1905/Tilford bridge-Tilford, Surrey, 11 Oct 1905/Farnham bridge-Tilford, Surrey, 11 Oct 1905.
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| Admin history | Donald Muggeridge was born in Kent and inherited his father William’s enthusiasm for windmills. When Donald first became interested in mills, there were still more than 200 windmills at work in England. Having been involved in his father’s expeditions to photograph mills, Donald began his own photographic collection from the 1930s. In 1933, Donald met Syd Simmons, a fellow enthusiast, with whom he set off to track down and photograph mills across the country. They also shared information and duplicated photographs taken by one another on separate expeditions.
Donald and his later wife Vera, whom he met in 1936, spent their spare time cycling about the countryside together looking for windmills, watermills, columbariums and direction posts; in fact anything that was part of 'bygone' England. Vera was particularly interested in the furniture of old churches.
Donald succeeded in taking several interior shots, particularly in Essex, Kent and Suffolk, before the advent of the flash bulb. This could only be done by using magnesium ribbon or flash gun, or by relying on natural daylight, an exposure time of about 20 minutes and a small aperture for better definition.
During the war, Donald volunteered and was sent to the Cavalry Barracks in Canterbury but continued his trips in search of mills while he was off-duty. In May 1940, he was on the Dunkirk beaches, but returned without injury to marry Vera in Surrey. Donald returned to Kent in 1943 for officer training, but managed to visit mills within a ten mile radius on foot. While part of the armoured division making its way from Normandy to Berlin, he even managed to take about 400 photos of mills in Belgium, Holland and Germany and returned home in 1946.
Donald, Vera and their son Derek settled in Surrey after the war, but decided to emigrate to Canada in 1956. After losing his job due to a change of government, Donald and his family moved again to California, where both Vera and Donald worked until retirement. Derek became a successful aerospace engineer and is now Associate Vice President of Research and Dean of the Faculty of Science at Okanagan University College in Canada.
Despite living in North America, Donald returned to Britain in 1958, taking pictures of mills in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. In 1961 he continued his research in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Buckinghamshire. At Chinnor in Oxfordshire he took another four pictures of the mill he had been snapping since 1932, making a total of 28 photographs of this mill alone over a period of nearly 30 years.
Donald later made available the research into mills of Surrey and Essex which he had been hoping to publish prior to the Second World War. These notes and photographs became a significant contribution to Windmills of Surrey and Inner London by Kenneth G. Farries and Martin T. Mason (Charles Skilton, 1966) and to Farries's five volume unique treatise Essex Windmills, Millers & Millwrights (Charles Skilton, 1981-8). More recently Trevor L. Stainwright drew on Donald's collection of photographs for his Windmills of Northamptonshire & the Soke of Peterborough (WD Wharton, 1991).
Donald has gradually transferred his negatives to the Templeman Library. Prints have been made of the English and Welsh counties from Anglesey to Yorkshire. Donald is a regular correspondent with the Templeman Library, and takes an active part in the work and promotion of the Muggeridge collections. |