The Last Orgone Accumulator

Built the year after the Battle of Waterloo, retired, replaced and then in 1964 restored when briefly it was the home and lazy headquarters for Jerry Cornelius, Ashby’s Mill is a fine example of its kind. Little remains of its 60s refit. Just recently it was restored once again and little has been made of when painted pink it was the aborted site of England’s first and only real attempt at an Orgone Accumulator. And more astonishing still, this windmill, Ashby’s Mill is not in Kent or even Surrey. It is in Brixton. Brixton Hill to be exact where I lived for a year or two, albeit not in the mill.

The clutter of Professor Hira’s experimental apparatus has gone, friends of mine have checked and of course no one’s heard anything of Jerry since the rather renowed and pretty dreadful interview he did with Russell Harty in ’73, extracts of which can still be seen in The Who’s 1979 biopic The Kids Are Alright.

But look at it, windmill.

In Brixton.