Mill Green Mill, Fryerning
Encyclopedia
Mill Green Mill is a grade II* listed post mill
at Mill Green
, Fryerning
, Essex
, England
which has been restored.
from Chelmsford
. A roundhouse was included from the start. The mill was owned by the Petre estate and records of expenditure on the mill are in the Essex Record Office.
In July or August 1774, a farmer was killed by being struck by the sails of the mill. New sails were fitted in 1802 and 1806, and a new stock in 1821. An accident at the mill resulted in the miller sustaining a fractured thigh in 1852, and the owner of the mill being reported to have been carried round on the sails for ten or twelve revolutions before he was rescued. The roof of the mill was repaired in 1878 and the mill re-tarred. A new sail was fitted in 1884 and a new pair of sails in 1902. The mill was working until at least 1905.
Some repairs were done to the body of the mill in the 1930s. The mill was restored in 1959 by R.F. Collinson, who had bought the mill house and discovered the mill in the garden. This entailed the complete replacement of the frame of the mill, including the Crowntree. On 2 January 1976, the sails ran away in a gale and the brake wheel disintegrated. A new brake wheel was constructed in 1989.
and two spring patents. There are two pairs of millstone
s arranged head and tail.
is of oak
, with the main post thought to be of sweet chestnut
. The crosstrees are 24 ft (7.32 m) long, 12 in (305 mm) square at the ends, thickening to 15 in (381 mm) by 13 in (330 mm) at the centre. The underside of the lower crosstree is 3 in 4 in (1.02 m) above ground level. The main post is nearly 23 ft (7.01 m) in length, 25 in (635 mm) square at its base and 22 in (559 mm) diameter at the top. The quarterbars are 12 in (305 mm) by 10 in (254 mm) in section. The roundhouse is of brick, with a boarded roof covered in tarred felt.
, probably replacing a former wooden one. It is 18 ft (5.49 m) long and carries the head and tail wheels. The mill has two spring sails and two spring patents. The sails have a span of 58 ft (17.68 m).
. The headstones are 4 in 6 in (1.37 m) diameter and the tailstones are 4 ft (1.22 m) diameter.
Post mill
The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. The defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. The earliest post mills in England are thought to have...
at Mill Green
Mill Green, Essex
Mill Green is a hamlet in the Brentwood District, in the English county of Essex. It is near the town of Ingatestone and the village of Fryerning. There is a wood called Millgreen Wood and a mill called Mill Green Mill...
, Fryerning
Fryerning
Fryerning is a village in south Essex. It is situated just 1.5 miles north of Ingatestone. The Parish Church is St. Mary the Virgin in Blackmore Road...
, 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 restored.
History
Mill Green Mill was built in 1759, replacing an earlier mill which stood some 80 yards (73.2 m) to the east during the period 1564 - 1731. The mill was built by Robert Barker, a millwrightMillwright
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...
from Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
. A roundhouse was included from the start. The mill was owned by the Petre estate and records of expenditure on the mill are in the Essex Record Office.
In July or August 1774, a farmer was killed by being struck by the sails of the mill. New sails were fitted in 1802 and 1806, and a new stock in 1821. An accident at the mill resulted in the miller sustaining a fractured thigh in 1852, and the owner of the mill being reported to have been carried round on the sails for ten or twelve revolutions before he was rescued. The roof of the mill was repaired in 1878 and the mill re-tarred. A new sail was fitted in 1884 and a new pair of sails in 1902. The mill was working until at least 1905.
Some repairs were done to the body of the mill in the 1930s. The mill was restored in 1959 by R.F. Collinson, who had bought the mill house and discovered the mill in the garden. This entailed the complete replacement of the frame of the mill, including the Crowntree. On 2 January 1976, the sails ran away in a gale and the brake wheel disintegrated. A new brake wheel was constructed in 1989.
Description
Mill Green Mill is a post mill with a single storey roundhouse. The mill is winded by a tailpole. It has two spring 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:...
and two spring patents. There are two pairs of 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 arranged head and tail.
Trestle and roundhouse
The trestleTrestle (mill)
The Trestle of a Post mill is the arrangement of the Main post, crosstrees and quarterbars that form the substructure of this type of windmill. It may or may not be surrounded by a roundhouse...
is of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, with the main post thought to be of sweet chestnut
Sweet Chestnut
Castanea sativa is a species of the flowering plant family Fagaceae, the tree and its edible seeds are referred to by several common names such Sweet Chestnut or Marron. Originally native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, it is now widely dispersed throughout Europe and parts of Asia, such as...
. The crosstrees are 24 ft (7.32 m) long, 12 in (305 mm) square at the ends, thickening to 15 in (381 mm) by 13 in (330 mm) at the centre. The underside of the lower crosstree is 3 in 4 in (1.02 m) above ground level. The main post is nearly 23 ft (7.01 m) in length, 25 in (635 mm) square at its base and 22 in (559 mm) diameter at the top. The quarterbars are 12 in (305 mm) by 10 in (254 mm) in section. The roundhouse is of brick, with a boarded roof covered in tarred felt.
Body
The body of the mill measures 15 ft (4.57 m) by 11 ft (3.35 m) in plan. The Crowntree is 23 in (584 mm) by 21 in (533 mm) in section. It has a cast iron plate bolted to its underside, with a pintle projecting downwards which fits into a cast iron pot on the top of the main post, A reversal of the normal fitting. The side girts are 10 in (254 mm) by 19 inches (483 mm) in section.Sails and windshaft
As originally built, the mill would have had a wooden windshaft and four common sails. The windshaft is of cast ironCast 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...
, probably replacing a former wooden one. It is 18 ft (5.49 m) long and carries the head and tail wheels. The mill has two spring sails and two spring patents. The sails have a span of 58 ft (17.68 m).
Machinery
The head wheel is of clasp arm construction, it is 9 ft (2.74 m) diameter. It has an iron segment ring bolted on which has a total of 120 teeth. It drive a cast iron stone nut, with 20 cogs. Originally, the head wheel had 69 cogs, of 4½ in (114 mm) pitch. The tail wheel is also of clasp arm construction, 7 ft (2.13 m) diameter. It has an iron segment ring bolted on which has a total of one hundred teeth. It drives a cast iron stone nut, with fifteen cogs. Both wheels were made from elmElm
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 headstones are 4 in 6 in (1.37 m) diameter and the tailstones are 4 ft (1.22 m) diameter.
Millers
Millers who worked this mill were:- Dearman 1759 -
- John Dearman - 1852
- Alfred Tuck 1855 - 1866
- James Nicholls 1866 - 1899
- Rankin 1899 - 1905
External links
- Windmill World webpage on Mill Green Mill.