Charing Windmill

Charing Windmill is a Grade II listed[1] house converted smock mill on Charing Hill in Kent in southeast England. It is sometimes known as Field Mill, but that name was also used by a watermill in Charing.

Charing Windmill
The converted mill.
Origin
Mill nameField Mill
Grid referenceTQ 957 503
Coordinates51°13′1″N 0°48′8″E
Year builtEarly nineteenth century
Information
PurposeCorn milling
TypeSmock mill
StoreysThree-storey smock
Base storeysOne storey
Smock sidesEight-sided
No. of sailsFour
Type of sailsTwo Common sails and two Spring sails
WindshaftCast iron
WindingFantail
Fantail bladesSix
No. of pairs of millstonesThree pairs
Other informationWas painted white when a working mill, tarred black since conversion to a house.

History

Charing Mill was built in the early nineteenth century. It was marked on the 1819-43 Ordnance Survey map and also on Greenwood's 1821 map of Kent. It was working until 1891, when the business was transferred to Field Watermill,[2] although two new common sails had been erected on the mill by Holman's of Canterbury the year before. The sails were removed in 1917 after being damaged in a gale.[3]

Description

Charing Mill is a three-storey smock mill on a single-storey base. It has a Kentish-style cap. It had two Common sails and two Spring sails and was winded by a fantail.[3] The cast-iron windshaft carries a wooden Brake Wheel driving a wooden wallower, carried on a wooden upright shaft. The Wooden clasp arm Great Spur Wheel survives, but the three pairs of millstones have been removed.[2] The mill was originally painted white overall, but the body of the mill was creosoted in 1969.[4]

Millers
  • Thomas Parks 1823 - 1827
  • Richard Chapman Jennings 1839
  • A Sidders
  • S Andrews
  • Robert Millgate 1878 - Charing Heath windmill?
  • Pay 1878 - 1892 Field watermill?
  • Pope 1878 - 1892 Field watermill?
  • William Smith
  • George Smith 1887
  • Walter Hicks 1891

References for above:- [2][3][5]

References
  1. Historic England. "CHARING WINDMILL, BOWL ROAD, CHARING, ASHFORD, KENT (1299636)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  2. West, Jenny (1973). The Windmills of Kent. London: Charles Skilton Ltd. pp. 28–30. ISBN 0-284-98534-1.
  3. Coles Finch, William (1933). Watermills and Windmills. London: C W Daniel Company. p. 177.
  4. "View up towards cap. No sweeps or stocks". The Mills Archive Trust. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
  5. "Directory of Kent Mill People". The Mills Archive Trust. Archived from the original on 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.