Edenbridge Windmill
Encyclopedia
Edenbridge Mill is a Grade II listed house converted tower mill
in Edenbridge
, Kent
, England
. It is on the west side of Mill Hill, just north of the hospital.
Edenbridge Mill was built in 1812. A mill was marked on the 1858-72 and 1903-10 Ordnance Survey
maps.. There is a stone inscribed 1812 A Friend. there is a red brick just above the large window on the first floor with 1812 also inscribed
William Ashby, the Westerham
millwright
worked on the mill in October 1825, fitting a new neck bearing of the windshaft, and did some repairs to the sails in January 1826. The cap was removed in 1937 and replaced by a flat roof.
carried on a cast iron
windshaft. The mill was winded by a fantail. The mill retains the Wallower, upright shaft and iron Great Spur Wheel, which drove the millstone
s overdrift. Old photographs show that there was a stage at first floor level.
During the Second World War an air-raid shelter
was built on the ground floor.
The property was sold in 1990 to a developer who over an nine-year period converted the building to residential use, making only minor changes to the outside. Two small windows, both on the third floor, were made larger. The air raid shelter was removed. The external staircase shown in earlier photographs was replaced with a staircase of a gradient compliant with building regulations.
References for above:-
Tower mill
A tower mill is a type of windmill which consists of a brick or stone tower, on top of which sits a roof or cap which can be turned to bring the sails into the wind....
in Edenbridge
Edenbridge, Kent
Edenbridge is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The town's name derives from Old English language "Eadhelmsbrigge" . It is located on the Kent/Surrey border on the upper floodplain of the River Medway and gives its name to the latter's tributary, the River Eden...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, 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...
. It is on the west side of Mill Hill, just north of the hospital.
History
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
maps.. There is a stone inscribed 1812 A Friend. there is a red brick just above the large window on the first floor with 1812 also inscribed
William Ashby, the Westerham
Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, in South East England with 5,000 people. The parish is south of the North Downs, ten miles west of Sevenoaks. It covers 5800 acres . It is recorded as early as the 9th century, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in a...
millwright
Millwright
A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...
worked on the mill in October 1825, fitting a new neck bearing of the windshaft, and did some repairs to the sails in January 1826. The cap was removed in 1937 and replaced by a flat roof.
Description
Edenbridge Mill is a five storey brick tower mill with a domed cap. It had four sailsWindmill sail
Windmills are powered by their sails. Sails are found in different designs, from primitive common sails to the advanced patent sails.-Jib sails:...
carried on 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. The mill was winded by a fantail. The mill retains the Wallower, upright shaft and iron Great Spur Wheel, which drove the millstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s overdrift. Old photographs show that there was a stage at first floor level.
During the Second World War an air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...
was built on the ground floor.
The property was sold in 1990 to a developer who over an nine-year period converted the building to residential use, making only minor changes to the outside. Two small windows, both on the third floor, were made larger. The air raid shelter was removed. The external staircase shown in earlier photographs was replaced with a staircase of a gradient compliant with building regulations.
Millers
- Edward Bridger 1825 - 1839
- H Sisley 1844
- James Mellish 1845 - 1849
- Stanford - 1854
- Moses Brooks 1864 - 1874
- James Mellish & Son - 1886
References for above:-
External links
- Windmill World page on the mill.