Walter's Mill is a tower mill

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 Mark Cross, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into 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 accommodation.

History

Walter's Mill was first mentioned in 1845 and is thought to have been built by the Arnold brothers of Paddock Wood

Paddock Wood

Paddock Wood is a small town and civil parish in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells and county of Kent in England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 8,263, and is the centre for hop growing in Kent.-History:...

, 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...

. The mill was working by wind until 26 July 1911, when it was burnt out. The mill was refitted and driven by a gas engine, at that time having a crenellated top, which was removed in the early 1930s. the mill building was converted and extended to form a house in 1962. In 2005, it was announced that the owners planned to rebuild the cap and sails, and return the mill to a more traditional appearance in the long term.

Description

Walter's Mill is a five storey tile hung brick tower mill. It had four 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:...

. The Kentish style cap was 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...

. The mill drove two pairs of underdrift 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. The converted tower stands today, with the window and door openings having been enlarged during the conversion.

Millers

• Catherine Ashby 1845
• Walter Dunk 1855 - 1856
• Edward J Walter and Sons 1887
• Edward and Joseph Walter 1903
• Joseph Walter and Son 1905
• Joseph Walter and Sons 1913
• Wealden Farmers Ltd 1930s

References for above:-

External links

• Windmill World webpage on Mark Cross mill.
• Photograph of the mill on fire.
• Photograph of the mill in 1936.

Further reading

Online version