Baker Street Mill is a grade II listed Smock mill

Smock mill

The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind...

 at Baker Street

Baker Street, Essex

Baker Street is a location in Orsett in the unitary authority of Thurrock. It is in the ceremonial county of Essex, England.Reaney suggests the name is derived from William Bakere de Luggestreet....

, Orsett

Orsett

Orsett is a village and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 which has been converted to residential use.

History

Baker Street Mill is said to have been built in 1765, although a date of 1762 is recorded in the mill. The earliest firm reference for the mill is 1796, this from a sale notice in 1808. It is likely that the mill was raised a storey between 1762 and 1814. The mill was working by wind until 1914. A steam mill was built near the mill towards the end of its working life, a new boiler being supplied in 1906.

The mill gradually became more and more derelict, losing two sails in 1926 to a lightning

Lightning

Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...

 strike. The windmill and steam mill were converted to residential accommodation in 1982.

Description

Baker Street Mill is a three storey smock mill on a two storey brick base, with a stage at first floor level. The mill had four double Patent sails

Windmill sail

Windmills are powered by their sails. Sails are found in different designs, from primitive common sails to the advanced patent sails.-Jib sails:...

 and the Kentish style cap is winded by a fantail

Windmill fantail

A Fantail is a small windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill, and which turns the cap automatically to bring it into the wind. The fantail was patented in 1745 by Edmund Lee, a blacksmith working at Brockmill Forge near Wigan, England, and perfected on mills...

.

Mill

Baker Street Mill has an octagonal two storey brick base. The walls of which are almost 3 feet (914 mm) thick at ground level. The base is 20 in 4 in (6.2 m) across the flats and 18 in 6 in (5.64 m) high, the brickwork at the top of the base is about 18 inches (457 mm) thick.

The smock is 21 in 8 in (6.6 m) from sill to curb. The mill is 11 feet (3.35 m) diameter at the curb, the cant posts being about 10 inches (254 mm) square. The stage is at first floor level, 8 in 6 in (2.59 m) above the ground.

The cap is of Kentish style, with blisters for the Brake Wheel., with an overall height of some 8 feet (2.44 m), giving the mill an overall height of about 46 in 6 in (14.17 m). Winding is by an eight-bladed fantail, although originally the mill was winded by hand.

Sails and windshaft

Baker Street Mill has a cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 windshaft and four double patent sails. The windshaft was originally a wooden one. The last working sails were an odd pair, the outer pair having eight bays of four shutters and one bay of three, the inner pair having eleven bays of three shutters.

Machinery

The wooden Brake Wheel is of clasp arm construction, 8 feet (2.44 m) diameter. It has been converted from compass arm construction. The rim is of elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

. The Wallower is wooden, as is the Upright Shaft. The compass arm Great Spur Wheel is 7 feet (2.13 m) diameter, and has six arms. The mill originally worked two pairs of overdrift millstones, with a third pair being added later.

Fantail

Baker Street Mill was winded by an eight-bladed fantail, replacing the original hand winding by means of a Y wheel and chain, which was retained as a standby method of winding the mill.

Millers

• James Woollings 1830 - 1839
• William Woolings 1848 - 1886
• Emma Woolings 1890 - 1894
• Thomas Ridgewell 1898
• Christopher Moore 1902
• Arthur William Cocks 1908
• William Scott 1910
• H Lindsey 1912

References for above:-

External links

• Windmill World webpage on Baker Street Mill