Charing Windmill

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Charing Windmill is a Grade II listed[1] smock windmill, now converted to a house, 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.
Map
Origin
Mill nameField Mill
Grid referenceTQ 957 503
Coordinates51°13′1″N 0°48′8″E / 51.21694°N 0.80222°E / 51.21694; 0.80222
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

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Charing Mill was built in the early 19th 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

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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

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  • 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[2][3][5]

References

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  1. ^ Historic England. "Charing Windmill, Bowl Road, Charing, Ashford, Kent (1299636)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
  2. ^ a b c West, Jenny (1973). The Windmills of Kent. London: Charles Skilton Ltd. pp. 28–30. ISBN 0-284-98534-1.
  3. ^ a b c 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 14 April 2008.
  5. ^ "Directory of Kent Mill People". The Mills Archive Trust. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
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