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 name | Field Mill |
| Grid reference | TQ 957 503 |
| Coordinates | 51°13′1″N 0°48′8″E |
| Year built | Early nineteenth century |
| Information | |
| Purpose | Corn milling |
| Type | Smock mill |
| Storeys | Three-storey smock |
| Base storeys | One storey |
| Smock sides | Eight-sided |
| No. of sails | Four |
| Type of sails | Two Common sails and two Spring sails |
| Windshaft | Cast iron |
| Winding | Fantail |
| Fantail blades | Six |
| No. of pairs of millstones | Three pairs |
| Other information | Was 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]
See also
References
- Historic England. "CHARING WINDMILL, BOWL ROAD, CHARING, ASHFORD, KENT (1299636)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- West, Jenny (1973). The Windmills of Kent. London: Charles Skilton Ltd. pp. 28–30. ISBN 0-284-98534-1.
- Coles Finch, William (1933). Watermills and Windmills. London: C W Daniel Company. p. 177.
- "View up towards cap. No sweeps or stocks". The Mills Archive Trust. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
- "Directory of Kent Mill People". The Mills Archive Trust. Archived from the original on 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
External links
- Windmill World page on the mill.