Rayleigh Windmill
Encyclopedia
Rayleigh Windmill is a grade II listed Tower mill
at Rayleigh
, Essex
, England
which has been restored as a landmark and is used as a museum.
in 1817. Hart sold the mill to George Britton in 1845 and the mill passed to his sons John and Samuel in 1869. £150 was spent putting the mill into repair. The Britton brothers left Rayleigh in 1884 and were bankrupt in 1886. Thomas James Brown was the next miller, and the last to work the mill by wind c1907. The cap and sails
were removed c1909 and the mill was worked by a steam engine
then an oil engine
and latterly by electric motor until at least 1937.
The mill was taken over for use as a museum by Rayleigh and District Antiquarian and Natural History Society, formally opening on 16 May 1970. The capless mill stood for many years with a crenellated top but in 1972 Rayleigh Urban District Council launched an appeal to restore the mill as a landmark. By the autumn of 1974 a new cap and sails had been made and fitted by millwright
s John Lawn and Philip Barrett-Lennard.
In 2005, restoration work costing £340,000 was funded by the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.
s.
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....
at Rayleigh
Rayleigh, Essex
Rayleigh is a market town and civil parish in the District of Rochford in Essex, England, located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea. It lies to the east of central London. It has a population of 30,196, having expanded rapidly in the 1960s.-Toponymy:...
, 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 as a landmark and is used as a museum.
History
Rayleigh Windmill was built in 1809 for Thomas Higgs, a timber merchant of Rayleigh. Higgs was bankrupt in 1815 and the mill was sold to William Hart of Woodham MortimerWoodham Mortimer
Woodham Mortimer is a village on the Dengie peninsula about three miles west-south-west of Maldon in the English county of Essex. The village is part of the Wickham Bishops and Woodham ward of the Maldon district.-History:...
in 1817. Hart sold the mill to George Britton in 1845 and the mill passed to his sons John and Samuel in 1869. £150 was spent putting the mill into repair. The Britton brothers left Rayleigh in 1884 and were bankrupt in 1886. Thomas James Brown was the next miller, and the last to work the mill by wind c1907. The cap and 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:...
were removed c1909 and the mill was worked by a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
then an oil engine
Oil engine
Oil engine may refer to:* Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine* Hot bulb engine* Hesselman engine...
and latterly by electric motor until at least 1937.
The mill was taken over for use as a museum by Rayleigh and District Antiquarian and Natural History Society, formally opening on 16 May 1970. The capless mill stood for many years with a crenellated top but in 1972 Rayleigh Urban District Council launched an appeal to restore the mill as a landmark. By the autumn of 1974 a new cap and sails had been made and fitted by 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...
s John Lawn and Philip Barrett-Lennard.
In 2005, restoration work costing £340,000 was funded by the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.
Description
Rayleigh Windmill is a six storey tower mill with a Kentish cap winded by a six bladed fantail. The mill had two single Spring sails and two Common sails carried on a cast iron windshaft. The tower has no batter until second floor level, where the stage is. The tower is 20 feet (6.1 m) diameter at base level and 11 feet (3.35 m) internal diameter at the curb. The brickwork is 4 in 6 in (1.37 m) thick at base level and at curb level it is thickened out to 3 feet (914.4 mm). The mill is 60 feet (18.29 m) high to the top of the cap. The mill drove three pairs of millstoneMillstone
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.
Millers
- Thomas Higgs 1809 - 1817
- William Hart 1817 -
- Benjamin Ruffle 1840
- George Britton 1845–1869
- John & Samuel Britton 1869–1884
- Thomas James Brown 1884 -
- Green Bros 1937
References for above:-
Public access
Rayleigh Windmill is open from April each year on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.External links
- Windmill World webpage on Rayleigh Windmill