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KENT WINDMILLS EDUCATION PACK

HLF & KCC FUNDED PROJECT Ian Coulson 27/03

Kent Windmills: A unique community resource This pack of materials provides a resource for teachers and pupils who visit the eight windmills owned by KCC and managed with the invaluable assistance of the Volunteer Groups.

The aim is to show how the buildings can be used for the study of local history and a range of other subjects. The pack includes a range of background information and activities for use in the classroom before, after and during a visit. Although aimed primarily at Key Stage 2, many of the ideas could be used with older children. It includes:

• Practical ideas

• Enquiry based approaches to learning

• Suggestions for work in a variety of subject

All the resources focus on the windmills and the contribution they can make to the curriculum. There are suggestions for further reading and sources for additional information. This first section provides background information for teachers. The second section is a compilation of activity sheets with further resources on the CDRom.

Further copies of this pack and information about the windmills owned by KCC can be obtainedfrom: Heritage Conservation Kent County Council Invicta House, County Hall Maidstone Kent ME14 1XX Tel: 01622 221223 Fax: 01622 221636 www.kent.gov.uk/environment

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Introduction With recent concerns about energy conservation we are perhaps coming full circle, from the first technological answers to acquiring mechanical power, through the use of fossil fuels to a return to natural, sustainable sources of energy. The windmills in Kent are survivors of what is now an old fashioned, inefficient technology. In their day they provided effective, if not reliable, power. Kent County Council owns and is responsible for eight windmills scattered throughout the county. All are visually and historically significant features of the Kent countryside (most mills had to be positioned on high ground to catch the wind) and with a few others, are the most complete survivors of over 400 in Kent. There are two post-mill and six smock mills. All mills are “listed” - the majority being Grade I or Grade II*. This places them within a group of the top 4% of the Countries historic buildings. Each is part of the living history of the area in which it is situated. Their preservation is the best way of maintaining a record of their construction and physical history as well as illustrating the Counties social history. The miller was a key member of the local community since the windmill was an essential part of the agricultural industry on which prosperity depended.

Most of the windmills that can now be seen in the Kentish landscape were used for the grinding of grain for animal feed. Some also produced grain for bread but from the late nineteenth century steam driven mills were much more efficient and effective.

This pack presents a number of activities that will help teachers and pupils work on site and in the classroom. The focus on excellence and enjoyment allows teachers to look in a more flexible way at planning the curriculum, site visits to windmills are the ideal way of both extending the curriculum and adding the enjoyment and interest that stimulates learning.

Pupils are the conservationists of the future we need to invest in their education about our cultural past so that they in turn will help preserve and enjoy the windmills of the county.

There is a windmill near you so go out and discover part of the built heritage of Kent.

Remember… always prepare carefully for a site visit. Refer, in Kent, to the Outdoor Education Unit that was established in April 2003 following recommendations issued by the DfES in August 2002. They advise and support LA Schools and Youth Centres on all issues relating to Educational Visits. Consult Clusterweb for the most up-to-date information http://www.clusterweb.org.uk/policy/offsite.cfm

http://www.clusterweb.org.uk/policy/offsite.cfm

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Activity and Information sheets Activity Sheets

1. Who worked on the site? 2. How does a windmill work? 3. What to look for at a post mill 4. What to look for at a smock mill 5. How tall is the windmill? 6. A quick grind through the history

of milling 7. A conversation piece 8. Asking questions 9. Where should I build my mill? 10. Sorting cards (1) 11. Sorting cards (2) 12. Gatefold pamphlet 13. Poetry 14. Verbs 15. Annotated drawing 16. See, hear and smell (1) 17. See, hear and smell (2) 18. Rebuilding Chillenden Mill 19. Should we preserve the mills? 20. What do you think? 21. Windmill photo mosaic 22. Design a brochure for the

windmill 23. Design a safety poster 24. Design a scarf or tie 25. Design a visitors centre 26. Making a 3D model of the area 27. Make your own windpump 28. Make your own windmill 29. Making an anemometer 30. Cranbrook Mill drawing 31. Chillenden Mill drawing 32. Chillenden Mill cutaways 33. Early horizontal mill drawing 34. Tower Mill drawing 35. Wind generator drawing 36. Querns and pestles drawing 37. Horizontal mill

38. How did they make bread? 39. A real grind

Teachers’ Guide 1. Working on site 2. Questions prompts on site 3. Investigative questions 4. Working in cramped conditions 5. Asking questions: starter activity 6. What happened to Chillenden

Mill? 7. Destroyed windmill dismantled 8. Power plan for old windmills 9. To conserve or not to conserve? 10. Should we preserve the mills? 11. Making a buck 12. Drawing on site 13. Using a sketchbook 14. Looking at windmills 15. Music and the mills 16. ICT and windmills 17. ICT task 18. Oral history 19. History of Chillenden Mill 20. History of Cranbrook Mill 21. History of Drapers Mill 22. History of Herne Mill 23. History of Meopham Mill 24. History of Stelling Minnis 25. History of Stocks Mill 26. History of West Kingsdown 27. Weather Record sheet 28. All about mill-stones 29. Windmills in Nord Pas-de-Calais 30. Further Reading 31. Web sites 32. Finding out about Industrial

Archaeology 33. What is wheat grain? 34. Historic documents and sources

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Planning your Project Project work can be highly motivating for pupils. Combined with the stimulus of a visit a project can provide a personalised learning journey for each pupil. Introducing the project and its various stages is important so that pupils can have a clear picture of what they will be doing, what is expected of them. Openness about the work and discussion at each stage will encourage an effective pupil voice linked to clarity about the purpose of the work. When considering using one of the windmills it is important to consider:

• how the site and visit will fit into the curriculum.

• how the potential the windmill offers as an historic resource. There are also supporting materials that can be used to supplement the building and encourage children to use a variety of sources of evidence for their study

• how windmills, their building, position and technology suggest a range of questions. Investigative questions should form the basis of any visit and study. For example, ‘why was the mill built on this site?’ Why has it survived and not been taken down?’

• how there are numerous skills that can be developed in a study ranging

for historical investigation through to recording, measuring and drawing.

• how much interest and enthusiasm a visit may engender rather than some of the existing schemes of work.

• how the ‘wow’ factor should not be underestimated especially if the mill is

working or if children can climb into the building and see the machinery. Planning the work set in context is very important. The context for work in history is the historical time frame with an understanding of the development of technology. Work on the geography of the site also needs to be set in a wider knowledge of the topography of the area. Planning investigative work requires some careful thought about key questions that start with what the children know and understand.

• Why was the mill built on this site? • How has the mill changed? • What is the story of the mill? • Why did people build mills and how do they work?

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Work preliminary to the visit is vital. Some introduction to the skills and information about the windmill is essential. If art is to be the focus of the visit pupils should experiment with pens, pencils or paints that they will be using on site so that they are familiar with the techniques of using tone, colour and line. Before the visit ask the guide or mill manager what their ground rules are and the sort of activities they might offer. Be very clear about what you need from the visit for the children. If it is your first visit to the site look for:

• Things that the children will relate to through modern equivalents • Things that move • Things that can be handled • Places where there are unusual shapes, materials, colours and textures • Dramatic views • Interesting details • Aspects of the site where children can work out that things have changed

over time On site the pupils need to record information and observations without spending all their time with their noses in a worksheet. Getting a good balance is important between looking, getting the children to see the details and making inferences and recording. Making use of digital camera can help record very quickly a wide range of details that can then be used for reference and display following the visit. Throughout the investigation pupils should be encouraged to talk about their experiences and where possible their curiosity should be encouraged and developed. Two aspects of visiting a windmill are worth emphasising. The first is the importance of safety on site. Windmills are not the easiest buildings to move around so it is important that pupils are especially careful. Highlighting the nature of the windmill is also important, bringing to the fore the ways that people in the past sought economic well being through technology and technical innovation. Several mills have collections of documents and ephemera related to the working of the mill and their owners and tenants. Using printed posters and bills of sale is one effective way into this complex area of study. Evaluating the visit is important for both staff and pupils. Back in school, after the visit, pupils should be encouraged to make an assessment of not just whether they enjoyed the experience but specifically what they have learnt. This

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will be easier for the children to express if the learning intentions are clear and have been reinforced throughout the investigation. Investigating windmills can help:

• encourage observation, recording and deduction.

• to relate the shape and size of windmills to their function, and how they have changed over the years.

• to provide the three-dimensional evidence to reconstruct how the building

was used.

• pupils understand the social and working conditions in the past

• to provide a context for discussing difficult issues related to development conservation and reconstruction

• to enable pupils to use a variety of historical sources including

documentary, pictorial, oral and archaeological evidence

• develop the ability to communicate information, observations and conclusions about an historic site

• the understanding of cause and effect related to historic buildings

• to understand the context of the historic site, its chronology and the

sequence of events that took place on the site and the broader historical context of the site

• to show the strengths and weaknesses of archaeological remains as

historical evidence

• pupils understand the interrelationship between industries, landscapes, communications and available technologies

• an appreciation of competing claims of preservation and urban renewal

• the understanding of prestige and utility as factors in building design

• the understanding of change, continuity, development and stagnation

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The Story of the Kent Windmills Peter Cobley is an architect and planner who worked as Principal Conservation Officer for Kent County Council. Here he provides an introduction to the history and some of the conservation issues related to the Kent windmills. After a career as an architect and town planner in various local authorities, in 1990 I became Kent County Council's Conservation Architect. Amongst other roles, I was responsible for advice on the care and repair of the sixty or so listed buildings in County ownership. Of these, eight are windmills, three being Grade 1, three Grade II* and two Grade II. It was in 1998 that I entered this world of sprattle beams, cant posts, damsels, sheers, cogs and breast beams, when I was asked, on behalf of the Planning Department, to take over care of the windmills in the Council’s ownership. On taking over, I visited the windmills. All were suffering from varying degrees of structural and/or maintenance problems, as might be expected with structures which are really sensitive machines first and historic buildings second. Indeed mills work for a living and have a limited life expectancy. In 1933, William Coles Finch, in his book, Watermills and Windmills, quotes the life expectancy of a post mill at 200 years and a smock as 100 years – but this assumes the continuous care of an on-site miller. Mills nowadays do not have this luxury and repairs can be piecemeal and fail to address longer-term issues. We cannot therefore treat them as other listed buildings and in fact working mills may require more invasive change than in (for want of a better phrase), the normal listed building. I surveyed each mill and assessed the costs involved for repair and restoration at something under £1 million. Because of the costs involved, it was agreed that a Lottery Bid application should be submitted. The special needs of windmills were recognised in the submission and this approach also fitted the HLF criteria of funding high quality work. Overall the work consisted of sensitive repair to the mill structures and work to improve the potential for tourism and for educational purposes.

Another important issue related to the seven volunteer groups who look after the mills for the County Council on a day to day basis and open them to the public. They perform an excellent service and it is obviously necessary to maintain their interest and morale, something which is less easy to do if the mills are not in good shape. There is also a further problem since the numbers of volunteers are dwindling and the existing members are ageing. (I’m sure they would not object to me stating the obvious). Without new blood, there is a danger that the mills will not be able to open as at present. This seems to be a difficulty not unique to Kent - maybe a national effort is needed to resolve the problem.

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The Heritage Lottery bid was for £523,000 with matching funding from KCC and others of £120,000. Included in the bid was a commitment to spend money promoting the windmills for tourist and educational purposes. This included improving facilities for volunteers where possible. The bid was submitted in June 1998. Approval of a grant of £400,000 for work on seven of the eight windmills was given in September 1999. As well as repair work to the mills themselves, the grant covers the production of measured drawings, volunteer training, site work, interpretation, school education packs, leaflets, disabled facilities where practical and professional fees. Of these longer-term items, volunteer training has taken on a wider dimension than originally envisaged due to health and safety issues. Work on Herne, Drapers mill at Margate and Chillenden mill was begun as a first phase. The inevitable lead time before work started was a little frustrating for everyone, particularly the volunteer groups who realised they would have to close the mills during repairs and could lose volunteers as a result. The repairs at Drapers and later at Chillenden illustrated the hidden extras (and additional costs) likely in buildings of this type and caused a halt to some work. At Chillenden we concentrated initially on making the mill body watertight and structurally sound for the winter. Because of the cost increases at Chillenden and Drapers mills, however, a further grant application was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This was a much more straightforward process since it involved topping up an existing approved grant. As a result the total grant was increased by £326,000 to a total of £726,000. A condition of this increase was a commitment from KCC to implement a 10-year programme of planned maintenance involving an estimated annual expenditure of approximately £35,000. There was recognition here that funding capital repairs without considering the costs of longer-term care can easily be a wasted resource. After agreeing with the HLF, we were able to initiate repair work on the remaining mills and complete the work on Chillenden windmill.

THE INDIVIDUAL WINDMILLS Windmills were for a long time an economically essential feature of the Kent countryside. The historian William Coles-Finch, found evidence of over 400 windmills in the County. Many villages had two and Deal and Sandwich had six each! In spite of inevitable losses and demolition over the last 50 years, there are still about twelve windmills in Kent in near original condition. The windmills owned by the County form the largest group in near complete or working condition in Kent. Unlike many other historic buildings, they have a multiple value. Two types of windmill survive in Kent in near complete form, the post mill and the smock mill. Of the eight KCC mills, Chillenden and Stocks mill at Wittersham are post mills, whilst Drapers mill at Margate, Stelling Minnis,

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Meopham, Herne, the Union mill at Cranbrook and Kingsdown mill at West Kingsdown are smock mills. (Can it really be true that it is so called because of its similarity in shape to a farm worker’s smock - five of ours were always coated in coal tar?) A few brick tower mills remain, but none are complete and all disused or in residential use. All the windmills owned by the County still look like real mills inside and out. None have been subject to any changes of use and most have the majority of machinery in place. Some are capable or with minimum effort could be made capable of grinding. The County between 1958 and 1985 acquired the eight mills. The first one we accepted was Chillenden post mill, dating from 1868. This is situated in open country. Up until 1958, it had a barn and engine house adjoining. When acquired by KCC, the mill was only valued as a landscape feature so the barn with its machinery was demolished and the interior fittings of the mill were burnt. How attitudes have changed! The last mill to be acquired was Herne in 1985. Built in 1789, it was acquired from the miller’s family and was therefore complete with machinery and capable of producing flour.

Herne Mill

Listed Grade 1. This is an early type of smock mill built in 1789 to replace a C16 century post mill on the same site. In 1856,

the wooden structure was raised and two storeys of brickwork constructed underneath so that the mill could take advantage of the prevailing southwest winds. The windmill finished working as a mill in 1980 and was taken over by KCC in 1985.

Fitting new laminated timber

stocks

The old curb and cogs removed for

rebuilding

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The HLF grant application identified this mill as the top priority due to the imminent danger of structural failure. This was therefore the first mill to be

repaired, although the HLF only contributed a small amount due the emergency help of an English Heritage grant of £20,000 and £2,000 from Canterbury City Council. The opportunity was taken to convert the engine house into a Parish Office and add a meeting room, toilets and a volunteers’ store. The involvement of the Friends of the Herne Mill throughout was encouraged. I commissioned a member, a local architect, to design and supervise the work. Existing rights of way across the site were removed, the site was

landscaped and on site car parking was provided. The mill has

been extensively

repaired, including replacing the steel stocks with lighter laminated timber, much more suitable for the delicately constructed Kentish smock and cap. The EH funded work involved the repair and replacement of the failing smock curb and timber cogs. Bretts Waste Management, through the Landfill Tax and Canterbury City Council funded other work and the Parish paid for their Parish Office. The volunteers have organised money-raising events and a keen volunteer gardener has beautifully planted and maintains the site.

The work completed

The engine house converted into a parish office with the new meeting

room to the left

Recent widening of Thanet Way (A299), the route to Margate from the west means a wonderful view of the mill has been created when travelling east. The black smock and white painted sweeps [sails are called “sweeps” in Kent], is a sight to remember, even though the mill is surrounded by a housing estate. If the sweeps are turned, then this makes a major difference to visitor numbers. As a result of the work and the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the number of visitors has increased and over 1,500, a record, were shown round during the summer weekends in 2002. The provision of toilet accommodation has proved essential for school visits.

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Chillenden Windmill

Listed grade II*. Chillenden post mill was built in 1868 and retains its open trestle. As normal in Kent, it was never fitted with a fantail and would have been turned manually with its long tail pole. This is one of only four remaining Kentish post mills and was the last to be built. It replaced a former post mill on a site where it is

believed there had been mills for

500 years. The mill remained in use until 1949 when one sweep broke in a gale. In 1955 local residents raised enough money to make the mill weatherproof but could not afford a full repair. The mill remained in private hands until 1958, when KCC acquired it. Unfortunately the adjoining barn was demolished and the milling furniture removed. The mill stands in an exposed position amongst fields and lanes and forms an important and distinctive local landmark, the original reason for its purchase.

The mill in 1955

Work in progress

The mill had suffered over many years from superficial repairs, sometimes carried out by local builders rather than a millwright. As a result repairs were done without dealing with the basic problems. The most important alteration and one of which compromised the mill’s structural continuity, was to wedge the

post to the cross trees below and secure the tail pole to the ground with a steel post. This prevented the body moving independently on its trestle. As a result, the mill body suffered further and with beetle and water damage the mill frame was becoming dangerous.

Major frame repairs

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The repairs have now been completed. This includes re boarding and extensive repairs to the frame, trestle repairs, replacing a stock, rebuilding sweeps and replacing shutter frames and shutter furniture. As part of an ongoing experiment comparing alternative coatings and materials, the mill body has been painted with a white lead paint, whilst the stocks and sweeps have been painted using a natural pigment made up of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and chalk, suspended in raw linseed oil.

The completed mill

Meopham Listed Grade II*. This smock mill was built in 1821 by the Killick brothers, a well-known Kentish milling family and is the last in a line of mills serving Meopham. It was built as a ‘model’ mill to demonstrate milling and was consequently very well constructed. John Norton and his nephew took over the mill from Thomas Killick in 1889, and in 1959 the Nortons transferred the mill to KCC. The machinery is complete and capable of grinding if the surrounding screen trees are removed. The mill is situated within the Green Conservation Area in the centre of Meopham and forms a highly distinctive feature in the village. The original engine house is used as the parish office and the ground floor of the mill for parish meetings.

The original Curb Cogs

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When surveyed, the mill was found to be in reasonable condition. The weatherboarding, though not tarred for many years, only needed replacing on the cap and minor repairs were needed to the structure. I took the decision to remove the cap in any case and as a result the cap frame and smock curb and curb cogs could be properly assessed. This exposed structural problems that had to be dealt with because the cap is unlikely to be removed again for many years. The breast beam and one failed rib has been replaced and one other rib part- replaced with a wedged scarf matching the other ribs. All the timber cogs have been replaced in the smock curb. The fact that the mill continued to turn satisfactorily for many years is very much to the credit of the original builders particularly since some of the replacement cogs were

made from mahogany furniture legs.

Replacing the Cap on 17 October 2002

The opportunity has been taken to improve the weathering details of the fan stage frame and modify the weatherboarding at the cap ridge, the latter being a weak point for water egress in all our mills. Late in the contract,

removing oak slats on the reefing stage exposed wet rot in the supports. Replacement of these and all the slats was considered essential. In order to extend their life, the supports have been tarred and new oak slats bedded in wet tar.

Removing the Steel Stocks

The mill has not been able to open for visitors this year. Instead, a volunteer member has attended most of the site meetings to allow all volunteers to be kept informed of progress. As with all the mills, I commissioned a millwright knowledgeable in Kentish mill detailing to produce a drawing enabling the restoration of the original sweep design to be reproduced. A photograph has recently been discovered showing an alternative design. An application for listed building consent using this information has

been approved and will be implemented. Discussions with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Wind and Watermills Section and the HLF monitor are closely maintained on this and all the other mills. The award of a Hanson Land Fill Tax grant and a grant from Gravesham Council means that three funding bodies are involved and this complicates the administrative process. Mature trees are a problem since they block wind and prevent the mill turning and restoring its setting should also be a priority.

Junction of the

Breast Beam and Shear showing failed dovetail

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Stelling Minnis Listed Grade 1. This is a small smock mill of a size once very common in Kent. It has an octagonal tower clad in tarred weatherboarding with a rectangular cap. The base is only a few courses of bricks in height and as a result this mill is only 43ft high. The mill was built for George Goble in 1866 on the site of an earlier post mill. The millwright was T.R. Holman. On the owner’s death in 1878,

Henry Davison acquired the mill and it stayed in his family for 92 years, becoming known as Davison’s mill. Kent County Council took it over on Alec Davison’s death in 1970. The mill, which stands in a rural location on the outskirts of Stelling Minnis village, was fully restored in the 1970s by the millwrights Pargeter and Lennard. As a result, the mill is virtually as built. Adjacent trees screen the

mill and these need to be removed before the mill will be capable of turning two pairs of millstones by wind power. The mill machinery can however be operated using the original 1926 oil engine. The Parish Council and the Kent Mills Group jointly maintain and manage the mill.

Weatherboarding stripped

and frame repairs continuing 17 October

2002

Timber failure on cant

post

Of all the mills in KCC ownership, this appeared to be in the best condition. The only clues as to possible problems were permanently damp weatherboarding and moisture on the surface of three structural posts. Limited areas of wet and dry rot were also visible. It was only when the cap was removed and the weatherboarding stripped off, that the true extent of the problems were revealed. In the 1970's the mill was painted in plastic paint on the original tar. This sealed the boarding including the joints between boards and prevented the mill breathing. As a result the water entering at the cant posts where the butt jointed boarding had failed could not dry out and massive damage to the outer concealed face of the posts was present. Removing the boarding also exposed holes for which no obvious cause was discernible, until the sight of a mouse explained all. When the cap was removed, and this was done during the village fete as an extra event, stress in the cap frame was discovered. Removal of the

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boarding exposed a problem common in many Kentish Mills. The side sheers are of too small in section and bend with the weight of the breast beam and wind shaft at one end and the fantail supports at the other. It is probable that the cap is stiffened by the weatherboarding, but a decision on possible strengthening of the frame needs to be taken before re-boarding is done.

Oil engine – still in working order

Bending of sheers to Cap

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Drapers, Margate Listed Grade II. Drapers is a smock windmill with tarred weatherboarding on an octagonal brick base. The mill was constructed in 1845 by the Canterbury millwright John Holman, on the site of earlier mills. It was worked by wind until 1916 and powered by a gas engine until 1933. The mill was in a dilapidated condition when acquired by KCC in 1968 and a programme of restoration was

then carried out under the Drapers

Windmill Trust. Drapers windmill is now completely restored. The location of

Drapers mill was once completely rural but it is now part of Margate. However, open land still exists to the south (a school site) and to the north (a field owned by the County Council). The initiative for preservation of the Mill came from Mr R. M. Towes, the then Headmaster of the school who opposed redevelopment of the site for housing. Since then, local support has ensured that the mill is open to the public and well used.

Drapers windmill in 1965

Drapers windmill today

The enthusiastic group of volunteers is restoring internal shafts, gears and bearings and has acquired a gas engine to enable the mill to be run on windless days. Funding is

being raised for this restoration work. The volunteers are also, with KCC's help, laying out and planting a miller's garden. It is intended to grow seed for milling demonstrations, particularly for school visits.

The dismantled gas engine awaiting

funding for restoration

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Work on the repair of the mill is complete and included repairs to smock frame, cap, reboarding, tarring and repainting, rebuilding the sweeps, replacing shutters and stocks. Union Mill, Cranbrook Listed Grade 1. Union Mill is a white weather boarded smock mill, reputedly the finest example in England. At 70ft in hight, it is the tallest smock mill in the country. It is of seven storeys, including a brick base of three storeys. Humphrey the millwright constructed the mill in 1814 for Henry Dobell. After Henry Dobell went bankrupt in 1819, the mill was taken over by his creditors and became known as the Union mill. In 1832 George and Henry Russell bought the mill and it remained in the Russell family until 1957. Following a successful fund-raising appeal by SPAB, the mill was acquired by KCC in 1961 and restored to full working order. The windmill is in a prominent position in the attractive Wealden town of Cranbrook and provides both a local landmark and a visitor attraction to the town. The mill is also in the Cranbrook Conservation Area.

The mill with the Dutch style

sweeps

When restored in the1960's, only a Dutch millwright was available to carry out the work. As a result, a pair of Dutch style combined sweeps and stocks replaced the Kentish originals. Over the last two years, some of the sail bars and shutters were failing and, as an emergency measure, these were removed before last winter. Work has now begun on the main contract with removal of the steel stocks and sail frames. The existing white painted weatherboarding is failing due to the use of a modern paint on wet boarding. Early in 2003, the cap will be removed and repaired under cover off site. The mill will be scaffolded, the boarding removed, the structural frame repaired where damp has promoted extensive rot. The cap and smock will then be completely reboarded. Traditional

coatings will be used as finishes. Timber stocks will replace the previous steel. The site in the centre of town and its height means that great care in the selection and treatment of the timber is of major importance. The replacement stocks are to be Baltic pine, specially selected from a managed forest on a North German estate and sawn in England. The timber for the sweeps will be

The mill on 26 October

2002

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from the same source. In order to promote links between the foresters of the managed woodland and the end user, it is hoped to arrange for visits to the mills where their timber has been used.

The work is complicated by the position of the mill in the centre of the town and it is likely that the next stage, the removal of the cap will involve a road closure for part of the day. A repeat of this will be required when the cap and the new sweeps and stocks are replaced next year. At a cost of about £120,000,

this is expected to be the most expensive of all the windmills to repair.

Removing the Dutch sails

Sodden and failed weatherboarding

Stocks Mill, Wittersham Listed Grade II*. Stocks Mill is a post mill with a roundhouse of tarred brick protected by a sloping felted wooden roof. It is the tallest of the county’s remaining post mills. The centre post of the mill has the date 1781 and the initials RV carved on it - this is either the date of the mill’s construction or the date it was moved to Wittersham. It may have been called Stocks Mill after the village stocks that stood nearby. The mill operated for 120 years up to the beginning of this century. No machinery remains although

there are some interesting features, such as the fine post and trestles, a well-preserved roundhouse and four spring-shuttered sweeps - a rare arrangement in Kent. In 1980, the mill was transferred to KCC and a local ‘Friends of Stocks Mill’ group established to help preserve the mill and open it to the public. The mill is at Wittersham on the Isle of Oxney, and is surrounded by the private gardens of Stocks Mill House, the

The mill on the 26 October 2002

Sweeps removed for repair

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original, now extended C16 mill house, listed Grade II. Work is now under way; the mill has been coated with traditional lead and linseed oil paint. The previous lead coating has lasted very well and once the powdering top coat had been removed, further protective coats have been easily applied. Two new sweeps are under construction. The original mill floor, badly damaged by wet rot will be revealed under a modern timber floor. It will be recorded before removal and replacement by sound boarding. Internal furniture will be replaced and the sprattle beam relocated in its correct position to properly align with the stones below.

Canister - large and heavy for the size

of mill

It is also hoped to thin and prune trees that are overhanging the mill and damaging the paint finish. West Kingsdown Listed Grade II. West Kingsdown mill has an octagonal tarred weatherboarded smock on a square base, a seven - bladed fantail and once had two common and two patent sweeps. The mill was built nearby in 1800 but was moved in 1880 to its current site by its then owner, Tanner Norton. The Norton family ran the mill in conjunction with a post mill nearby (burnt down in 1909). Kent County Council acquired it in 1959. The mill is located within the farmyard of Mill House on the outskirts of West Kingsdown village - it is a significant village landmark and a prominent feature in the landscape, clearly visible from the M 20 motorway.

The mill today

This is the only mill for which Heritage Lottery Funding was not agreed. The HLF considered that the mill was not adequately available for public access and so did not comply with the relevant criteria. Nevertheless, the mill does need some work to repair a sweep and prevent water entering the mill smock. The County Council will fund this work from its own resources. The Council will also fund a visitor’s information leaflet and interpretation board to match the other HLF funded windmills.

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The Future Kent County Council decided that, in order to safeguard the mills long term and make full use of them as an important part of the County's heritage, immediate extensive maintenance and repair work was required. Additionally, a policy of encouraging their use for tourist and educational purposes was essential. The maintenance and repair work is now well on the way to completion. When complete, the work will have ranged from structural repairs, safeguarding the mills in the future by installing lightning conductors, health and safety guidance for volunteers and visitors, information packs for schools and other visitors and providing tourist sign posting. Other related projects for which funding is not yet available are also being pursued. At Drapers windmill, Margate, we hope to restore a historic gas engine to working order to turn the machinery when there is no wind. A coal gas manufacturing plant originally existed on site so it would complete the project to replace this. At Chillenden, improved vehicular access is necessary and this is being investigated. Finally, we are, as part of the HLF bid, recording each mill both drawn and photographically. I should like to end with an appeal to readers. As part of the work I am attempting to build an archive of photographs, drawings, memorabilia and written records for all the mills. If you are aware of anything please let me know. In particular, neither the SPAB nor KCC have any detailed written, drawn or sketch records of Cranbrook mill. It is possible that this information exists in Rex Wailes original file deposited with the SPAB and now mislaid. If it is out there, its return would be very welcome. Peter Cobley - formerly Conservation Architect, Kent County Council. Photographs Photographs by Peter Cobley and IJP Acknowledgements This extensive and complex project could not have been started without the help of and funding from many bodies. The support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, waste operators through the Land fill Tax scheme, Canterbury City Council, English Heritage, Gravesham Borough Council, Kent County Council members, parish councils and volunteers has been essential. Special thanks has to go to the many volunteers who give up their spare time looking after the mills on behalf of KCC.

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GLOSSARY OF MILLING TERMS BATTER: the slope on the walls to tower and smock mills, inwards from base to top. BODY: or buck, the moveable chamber of a post mill which contains the machinery. BRAKEWHEEL: wheel attached to the front of the windshaft to drive the wallower. The brake band, operated by the brake lever, contracts on its rim to stop the sweeps turning. BREAST: the front of a post mill body. BREAST BEAM: the transverse front member of a post mill or cap frame, supporting the front bearing of the windshaft. BRIDGE BEAM: beam supporting the spindle on which the millstones rest. CAP: the revolving top of a smock or tower mill supporting the sails, windshaft and fantail. CAP FRAME: the framework at the base of and supporting the cap, mounted on the curb. CAP RIBS: curved rafters meeting at a ridge supporting the weatherboarded covering to the roof. CANT POST: the corner posts of a smock mill, inclined inwards as they rise. CROSSTREES: two beams at right angles forming part of the trestle over which the horns of the main post of a post mill are located. CROWNTREE: the beam at second floor level, weighing about a ton, pivoted on the pintle bearing on top of the main post and supporting the body of a post mill. CURB: circular ring-beam at the top of a smock, supporting the metal track-plates on which the cap rotates. DUST FLOOR: the topmost floor, over the grain bins, to collect dust and rain. FAN STAGE: the framework at the rear of the cap which supports the fantail. FANTAIL: a vertical fan of six to eight vanes which automatically operates the mechanism to turn the cap and keep the sails facing into the wind.

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FLOUR DRESSING MACHINE: separates fine flour from the coarse. GOVERNOR: a device comprising rotating fly-weights and levers that automatically maintains the correct distance between the millstones, according to the strength of the wind. GRAIN BINS: wooden compartments for the storage of grain, on a level above the stone floor. GREAT SPUR WHEEL: the main driving wheel, meshed into the brake wheel, which transmits power via the stone nuts to the millstones, from either above (overdrift) or below (underdrift). HEADSICK: describes a post mill which has an undue forward lean. HEMLATH: the member on the outer edge of a sail which holds the ends of the sail bars. HOPPER: a wooden funnel that supplies grain from a bin overhead via a shoe to the horse or container resting on the millstones. LEADING BOARD: a narrow board fixed to the leading edge of a sail. MAIN POST: large fixed vertical timber post weighing about one and a half tons, with a pintle at the head on which the body of a post mill pivots to be faced into the wind. MEAL FLOOR: the floor below the stone floor with bins to collect via meal-spouts the meal from the millstones. MIDDLING: Kentish term for a stock. PETTICOAT: boarding that infills the space between the cap and smock or tower. PIERS: brick or stone work pillars supporting the ends of the crosstrees to raise them off the ground. PINTLE: onion-headed timber bearing at the top of the main post in a post mill. Often replaced by a flanged cast iron bearing known as a Samson's Head POLL END: the cast-iron sockets at the end of the windshaft through which the stocks are held. POST MILL: a mill with a rotating body supported on a central main post.

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QUANT: square iron shaft with a stone nut at its head powering the runner (upper) millstone from above. Can be moved across to disengage drive. QUARTER: one side of a smock mill. QUARTER BARS: diagonal braces off the cross-trees supporting the main post. ROUNDHOUSE: a building around the trestle of a post mill. SAILS:COMMON: latticed wooden frame over which sail-cloth was fixed to suit strength of the wind. DOUBLE SHUTTERED: sails with shutters on both leading and trailing sides of

their whips. PATENT: sails with shutters capable of automatic adjustment by the striking gear

even whilst rotating. SINGLE SHUTTERED: sails with shutters on the trailing edge only. SPRING: sails with hinged timber shutters, set before operating the mill, and

connected by a spring loaded lever which allows the shutters to open if struck by a gust of wind. SACK HOIST: a mechanism comprising a horizontal sack bollard around which a rope is wound to haul sacks of grain from the ground through a series of trap-hatches to the meal floor. It is controlled by the sack control lever which engages a friction drive off the wallower. SAIL BAR: upright timbers set into the whip to support the hemlath. SHEER TREES: longitudinal beams flanking the main post supporting the bottom floor of a post mill body. SHOE: inclined wooden trough which channels grain from the hopper to the centre of the millstone. SHUTTERS: hinged timber vanes on the sweeps, connected by the shutter bars. SIDE GIRT: longitudinal member weighing about half a ton, fixed to the end of the crowntree, and supporting the body of a post mill. SMOCK MILL: a mill with a fixed wooden tower, usually of eight sides, with a revolving cap at the top.

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SPIDER: a metal coupling at the front of the striking rod, connected to the shutter bars. SPILL THE WIND: to open the shutters whilst the sails are rotating. STAGE: a wooden platform around the lower part of a tower or smock mill from which the sails can be adjusted. STOCK: a tapered timber to which whips supporting sweeps or sails are fixed. STONE FLOOR: the floor supporting the millstones. STORM HATCH: a small door at the front of the cap allowing access to the sails. SWEEPS: local term for sails used throughout Kent and Sussex. STONE NUT: small cogged wheel at the top of the quant, meshed into the great spur wheel in smock or tower mills, or the wallower in a post mill. STONES DERBYSHIRE PEAK: a single piece of millstone grit, used for grinding barley,

oats and maize. FRENCH BURR: a composite stone of many pieces, used for grinding wheat. RUNNER: upper and rotating stone of a pair. BED: lower stone, fixed to the floor. STONE DRESSING: the cutting of furrows radially from the centre of the grinding surface of a millstone, to grind and direct the grain. STRIKING GEAR: a mechanism to operate the shutters, comprising a striking rod passing through a hollow windshaft, connected to the spider at the front and a weighted endless chain at the rear. A strong wind would raise this weight and thus open the shutters automatically. TAIL: the rear of a post mill. TAIL BEAM: the transverse rear member supporting the rear bearing of the windshaft. TAIL POLE: a large wooden lever attached to the rear of the body of a post-mill, or the cap of some smock mills, to enable it to be rotated by hand, thus bringing the sails into the wind. TAIL WHEEL: mounted on the rear of the windshaft within some post mills, to drive an extra pair of millstones.

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TAIL WINDING: damage caused to the sails when a gust of wind catches them from behind, owing to failure of the fantail, the cap not rotating, or a sudden change of wind direction. TENTERING GEAR: the mechanism for setting the initial gap between the millstones. TRANSOME: beam spanning between the cant posts to supporting floor joists. TRESTLE: the supporting base structure to a post mill. TOWER MILL: a mill with a round brick tower and revolving cap at the top. TUN: wooden casing enclosing the millstones. UPLONGS: longitudinal timbers bracing the sail bars. UPRIGHT SHAFT: principal shaft connecting the wallower to the great spur wheel. WALLOWER: a bevelled gear wheel meshed with the brake wheel and driving the great spur wheel. More commonly in post mills, it drives a runner stone. WEATHER: the angle at which the sail bars are set into the whip to give a twist to the sail, greatest at the tip, in the manner of a propeller. WEATHERBOARDING: the overlapping shaped timber planks covering the framework of a post mill body, smock or cap. WHIP: the principal longitudinal member of a sail, bolted to the stock or middling and supporting the sailbars. WINDING: turning the sails into the wind. WINDSHAFT: a shaft, usually of cast iron after the mid eighteenth century, to which are fixed the stocks, brake and tail wheels. It is inclined to balance the weight it carries and is supported in a neck bearing on the breast beam at the front and a tail bearing on the tail beam at the rear.

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FURTHER READING Beedell, S Windmills. Publ David & Charles 1975 Batten, M. I. English Windmills Vol 1, Kent, Surrey and Sussex Publ AP 1930 Brown. R .J. Windmills of England. Publ Hale 1976 Coles Finch, W.

Watermills and Windmills. Publ C.W. Daniel & Co 1933 (also reprinted) Freeze, S. Windmills and Millwrighting. Publ David & Charles 1974 deLittle, R The Windmill. Publ John Baker 1972 Reynolds, J Windmills and Watermills Publ Hugh Evelyn 1974 Shillingford. A.E.P. Vanishing Windmills. Pub Cave 1979. Turpin B & J Windmills in Kent. Publ Windmill Publications 1979 Vince. J. Discovering Windmills. Publ Shire 1993. Vince. J. Windmills & How They Work. Publ Sorbus 1993. Wailes. R. Windmills and Watermills. Publ Ward Stock 1979 Wailes. R. Windmills in England. Publ C Skilton. 1948 West, P. The Windmills of Kent. Publ Charles Skilton 1973 Watts. M. Water and Wind Power. Publ Shire 2000.

Teachers’ Guide for the Kent Windmills Education Pack Ian Coulson

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1 Working on site Once the group has arrived on site, start with an introduction to the mill, staff and facilities. Begin with an orientation exercise. Divide the party into pairs. Provide the pupils with a very small strip of post-it note. Ask them to draw their partner on the post-it note. Once this is complete the pupils give each other their sketches and they place the sketch of themselves on the map or plan. During the visit ask the pupils to move their picture on the plan as they walk around the site. Another activity is to divide the group into pairs and give them photographs of different parts of the site. They have to find the place illustrated in their picture and return to the group. Roles on site This pack provides a number of site activities and suggestions for work. It may be appropriate to divide the party into groups. Each group could have a particular role. By dividing the party into groups they can work in specialist teams, with specific objectives and the requirement to feedback to their class when they return to school. The groups could be:

• Video producers • Oral historians • Surveyors • Reporters • Photographers • Artists • Archivists

Each group could collect their evidence, draw their conclusions about what they have found and all be involved in observing, discovering and hypothesising.


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2 Question prompts on site Look at where the windmill is situated Can you explain why the windmill was built on this site? What is the situation of the windmill? What is the area around the windmill like? How easy is it to get to the site and are there good transport connections ? Are the roads the same as they used to be or have they changed? Buildings on the site What buildings and remains of buildings can you see on the site? Are there any other buildings, new or old, on the site? Can you work out what the other buildings would have been used for? Do you think there are any buildings missing? Is there any evidence of where the miller lived? The windmill Is the windmill complete is any machinery missing? What machinery can you find on the site? What materials have been used to construct the windmill? Why do you think these materials were chosen? Has the windmill been altered over time? Are some parts of different dates? Which are parts of the building is earlier, which later? Changing use Has the use of the windmill changed? How were materials or products moved from one process to the next? Where was the grain and the flour stored? Who were the people who worked here? How many people do you think must have worked at the windmill? Where might did these people live and how did they get to work? Is there any evidence of who used to work here? Inside the windmill Windmills are cramped and it is important that pupils look where they are going so try to avoid spending too much time using a worksheet inside the mill. It is here that you may require the help of an expert!


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3 Investigative Questions Once on site there are several broad questions that can be investigated. A line of enquiry helps define what you do with the children. It provides a starting point and a clear outcome for any activities – the answer to the questions. Key questions might include:

• Why was the windmill built on this site?

• How long has it been here?

• Why has it lasted so long and not been taken down?

• How big is the windmill?

• What other buildings were around the windmill?

• What are the working areas in side the windmill?

• What type of windmill is this one, and what other types of windmill are there?

• How was the mill built?

• How is it possible to put the sails on a windmill this big if you do not have a modern

crane?

• What was life like for a miller in the past?

• How has the windmill changed over time?

• What did the windmill produce?

• Who did the windmill supply?

• What is the layout of the windmill and the surrounding buildings?

• Should we preserve windmills?


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4 Working in cramped conditions Windmills are cramped and not suited to large groups in one place at any one time. It is always worth organising your visit so that the class, or classes, are divided into smaller groups. These groups can them be set time limited tasks as part of a circuit of activities. On such occasions it is best to avoid detailed recording and to have tasks that are limited in their scope but significant for building the understanding by pupils of the windmill, its use and its development. Paired work is effective, allowing pupils to concentrate on a small aspect of the building and then report back to a larger group. The reporting back is especially important because it forces children to reform, verbalise and explain what they have observed and concluded. Letting the local guide know how you intend to use the site is vital. Avoid the forty minute technical explanation and history of the site in favour of pupils having a brief succinct introduction and then questions and activities that get them to seek answers. They can report back to both the group and the guide who can be used to help clarify what they have seen and concluded and answer some of the technical questions. Short questions might be:

• Finding out about the millstones. How many millstones are there? What sort of stones are used as millstones, can you describe them accurately in words and drawings?

• Finding out about the sails. How many sails are there? What are they made of? Finish the incomplete drawing of the sails and describe them. Why are they shaped this way and what do you think the shutters for? A simple model of generic questions might include:

• What is………? • What does it look like? • How big is it? • What materials is it made from? • How do you think it worked? • What part of the milling process does it belong to?

T

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5 Asking Questions: Starter Activity Provide the pupils with two images for the mill you will be visiting. Use the following questions to encourage their curiosity about the mill, where it is and how it works. Starter Activity

W 1 2 3 4 5 6

eachers’ Guide for the Kent Windmills Education

Chillenden Windmill

orking in pairs take either the photograph

. What is the name of the mill?

. Do you know where it is?

. What does the windmill need to work?

. How many people do you think worked at t

. What jobs do you think people did at the w

. What other questions would you like to as

Pack Ian Coulson

Chillenden Windmill

or the line drawing. Look at it carefully.

he windmill?

indmill?

k.

Teachers’ Guide for the Kent Windmills Education Pack

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6

What happened to Chillenden Mill on the night of 26th November?

A Grade II listed windmill has been badly damaged by high winds which have battered the South East of England. BBC News Wednesday, 26 November, 2003

The windmill at Chillenden near Canterbury was blown over in the storms of Wednesday morning.

The mill, which was built in 1868, had recently undergone extensive restoration work.

A post mill built on stilts, it is believed to be one of just five of its kind in the UK and worked until 1949, when one of its sweeps was damaged in a gale.

Restoration work carried out after Kent County Council assumed control for the mill was completed as recently as last year.

Margaret Holyer, who is a volunteer at the windmill, said: "The middle strut is broken, it must have been pushed over and broken and so it's gone over to the left as I was looking at it.

"It's done an awful lot of damage.

"I can usually see it from my gate but I went out to see it and it just wasn't there."

Elsewhere in Kent, a fallen tree landed on a taxi on Canterbury Road in Folkestone but the driver escaped serious injury.

Other roads in the county were blocked by fallen trees and rail services were delayed after trees were blown onto the lines at Gravesend and Godstone.

The torrential rain led to the Met Office issuing a severe weather warning affecting Kent and Sussex and flood warnings for some areas on the south coast of Kent.

Ian Coulson


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7

Destroyed windmill dismantled A Grade II listed windmill that was flattened by high winds has been dismantled by cranes in preparation for restoration work.

The windmill at Chillenden near Canterbury, Kent, was blown over and destroyed during a storm on 26 November.

The mill, which was built in 1868, had been restored before the storm.

The same contractors who repaired it have been called in to take it apart.

It will take the IJP workers a week to dismantle the mill as each part has to be labelled in case it is decided to rebuild it in the future.

The post mill was believed to be one of just five of its kind in the UK.

It will be stored in a container in Reading for at least three months while Kent County Council, the mill's owner, decides its fate.

The council's Heritage conservation officer Peter Cobley, said: "We will store it safely away and decide what to do next.

"The timber is quite wet at the moment so we will dry it out while it is in the container to stop any rot setting in.

"Each part will be clearly identifiable so we have the option to rebuild it in the future."

The windmill at Chillenden was flattened by storms

The timber is quite wet at the moment so we will dry it out while it is in the container to prevent possible rot setting in Peter Cobley, conservation officer

BBC News Monday, 15 December, 2003, 12:25 GMThttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/3320755.stm


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8 Power plan for old mills

Professor Clayton wants to see Cadges Mill generating power Derelict windmills in Norfolk could soon be used to generate electricity. Environmental experts say it would mean more green power - and a new lease of life for some impressive old buildings.

The county is home to giant wind turbines and a wind farm at West Somerton.

New technology and old side by side

Now plans are on the drawing board to combine new technology with a more traditional style.

Cadges Mill on the River Yare is one of 15 around Halvergate Marshes which need restoration.

The mill, which stopped working more than 60 years ago, could be in for a new lease of life - transformed into the country's first windmill to generate electricity.

Environmental expert Professor Keith Clayton favours converting the mills to produce power.

"What I look for to is the 15 mills all turning on Halvergate, all producing electricity, sustainable energy from the wind - excellent for the future."

The idea is still in its infancy and the cost of such a project or how much power the mills could produce has not yet been established.

Michael Knights, of Norfolk County Council, has been converted to be idea. "I must admit I was a little sceptical, but I while on holiday in Sweden I visited the island of Gotland where I saw windmills producing electricity and if we can do so here that would be good for Norfolk."

BBC News Friday, 10 January, 2003, 18:33 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2647257.stm


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9 To conserve, or not to conserve? That is the expensive question!

The whole issue of heritage conservation is fascinating because it raises real debates about the importance of our built environment. Pupils should all debate these issues because it will be their generation that will have to fund the future of the building they are visiting. As part of a school study visit they might consider:

• The importance of the windmill to the local community and nationally

• Does the windmill occupy any special place in the landscape?

• Is the windmill a valuable educational resource, what have they learnt since their visit?

• Does the windmill still contribute to jobs in the area through tourism? There are arguments against the amount of money and time put into the preservation of windmills

• The money spent could be used for people in real need

• The building is not of great importance

• The windmill is an ugly industrial feature in the landscape Activity: Set up a balloon debate. Divide the class into eight groups. One group will be the judges, the other groups must all adopt a different windmill. In the debate they will argue why their windmill will not be the one to be closed and demolished. The judges decide at the end of the debate which windmill should be sacrificed.


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10 Should we preserve the mills. KS3&4 activity This text is suitable for upper KS3 and GCSE pupils who are investigating the question of preservation and conservation. The account includes issues and financial details that are real areas of debate for Kent County Council and the professionals responsible for the maintenance of the windmills.

• What are the main issues? • Is it important to recognise the short term and the long term issues? • What are the solutions? • What do you think are the three most important solutions for ensuring the long term

survival of the mills as a public resource.• Do you think the cost of maintaining the mills is justified?

‘After a career as an architect and town planner in various local authorities, in 1990 I became Kent County Council's Conservation Architect. Amongst other roles, I am now responsible for advice on the care and repair of the sixty or so listed buildings in County ownership. Of these, eight are windmills, three being Grade 1, three Grade II* and two Grade II. It was in 1998 that I entered this world of sprattle beams, cant posts, damsels, sheers, cogs and breast beams, when I was asked, on behalf of the Planning Department, to take over care of the windmills in the Council’s ownership. On taking over, I visited the windmills. All were suffering from varying degrees of structural and/or maintenance problems, as might be expected with structures which are really sensitive machines first and historic buildings second. Indeed mills work for a living and have a limited life expectancy. In 1933, William Coles Finch, in his book, Watermills and Windmills, quotes the life expectancy of a post mill at 200 years and a smock as 100 years – but this assumes the continuous care of an on-site miller. Mills nowadays do not have this luxury and repairs can be piecemeal and fail to address longer-term issues. We cannot therefore treat them as other listed buildings and in fact working mills may require more invasive change than in (for want of a better phrase), the normal listed building. I surveyed each mill and assessed the costs involved for repair and restoration at something under £1 million. Because of the costs involved, it was agreed that a Lottery Bid application should be submitted. The special needs of windmills were recognised in the submission and this approach also fitted the HLF criteria of funding high quality work. Overall the work consisted of sensitive repair to the mill structures and work to improve the potential for tourism and for educational purposes. Another important issue related to the seven volunteer groups who look after the mills for the County Council on a day to day basis and open them to the public. They perform an excellent service and it is obviously necessary to maintain their interest and morale, something which is less easy to do if the mills are not in good shape. There is also a further problem since the numbers of volunteers are dwindling and the existing members are ageing. (I’m sure they would not object to me stating the obvious). Without new blood, there is a danger that the mills will not be able to open as at present. This seems to be a difficulty not unique to Kent - maybe a national effort is needed to resolve the problem.


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10 The Heritage Lottery bid was for £523,000 with matching funding from KCC and others of £120,000. Included in the bid was a commitment to spend money promoting the windmills for tourist and educational purposes. This included improving facilities for volunteers where possible. The bid was submitted in June 1998. Approval of a grant of £400,000 for work on seven of the eight windmills was given in September 1999. As well as repair work to the mills themselves, the grant covers the production of measured drawings, volunteer training, site work, interpretation, school education packs, leaflets, disabled facilities where practical and professional fees. Of these longer-term items, volunteer training has taken on a wider dimension than originally envisaged due to health and safety issues. Work on Herne, Drapers mill at Margate and Chillenden mill was begun as a first phase. The inevitable lead time before work started was a little frustrating for everyone, particularly the volunteer groups who realised they would have to close the mills during repairs and could lose volunteers as a result. The repairs at Drapers and later at Chillenden illustrated the hidden extras (and additional costs) likely in buildings of this type and caused a halt to some work. At Chillenden we concentrated initially on making the mill body watertight and structurally sound for the winter. Because of the cost increases at Chillenden and Drapers mills, however, a further grant application was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This was a much more straightforward process since it involved topping up an existing approved grant. As a result the total grant was increased by £326,000 to a total of £726,000. A condition of this increase was a commitment from KCC to implement a 10-year programme of planned maintenance involving an estimated annual expenditure of approximately £35,000. There was recognition here that funding capital repairs without considering the costs of longer-term care can easily be a wasted resource. After agreeing with the HLF, we were able to initiate repair work on the remaining mills and complete the work on Chillenden windmill.’ Peter Cobley, Conservation Architect.


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11 Making a buck ! One real life problem that faces all historic monuments is: ‘how can they make enough money to be maintained and kept open to the public?’ On returning from a visit to a windmill the class might like to look at the windmill, not in its historic context but in terms of its economic potential. A task could be to design a method of making enough money to help keep the windmill open and in good condition.

• What merchandise could be made for sale?

• Could the windmill be used for other purposes?

• Should the building be converted to make it more profitable, should the use of the building be changed?

The class may want to concentrate on the first item and design a range of items for the shop.


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12 Drawing on site. The Windmill Resources HB pencil, graphite pencil, charcoal, fine line pen, sketchbook and paper. This activity could form part of the scheme of work for pupils in KS2. Split the class into three groups with each group drawing in a separate locality on site. The class should be encouraged to express their response to the windmill and the site. The learning intentions should include details and the use of perspective in drawing. Pupils could work in pairs to evaluate their own and their partners work. Tone proportion and form should be applied to the drawings. Pupils need to be able to place the mill in context, in particular the way the mill was constructed and the nature of the materials that were used. Activities The focus might be the windmill or the surrounding buildings. A discussion of the task should introduce the activity. Pupils could begin with closely observed drawing of the windmill with attention paid to the details such as sweeps, the cap, windows etc. In the drawing s pupils should be encouraged to include the visual elements of tone, pattern and line. Cross curricular links Science, technology, history, geography. Follow-up An exhibition of work could be arranged to stimulate discussion about what went well, those things that were difficult and some of the questions that arose about the detail that was observed. The drawings from observation will have highlighted the pupils awareness of the site and extended their interest in the building, its history, technology and conservation. Assessment The activity can be used to assess:

• Observational skills • Recording detail • The use of line, tone and pattern • Awareness of shape • Proportion • Composition • The understanding of being safe on site • The nature of economic activity on the site in the past

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13 Using a Sketchbook Recording a wide range of features, both internally and external can be very time consuming. There may be a temptation to draw scenes that are complex and time consuming. On site encourage the pupils to make exploratory drawings that can be used to produce a finished drawing at a later date. By using the pictures, photographs and drawings in this pack pupils can combine these with their own notes and sketches. Developing the use of a sketchbook is an essential skill and it is worth either investing in small book or making one from folded plain paper. Recording details and the position of features will help pupils acquire a sense of the structure and form of the building. There is fascinating gallery of images from the sketchbook of John Constable on the Victoria and Albert Museum web site. It is worth choosing some of those that record features of a watermill to illustrate the work of an artist. By choosing carefully you can avoid showing too many of the sketches that are exceptional and likely to put the children off !

Teachers’ Guide for the Kent

Pages from the sketchbook of John Constable. From the Victoria and Albert Museum web site

Windmills Education Pack
Ian Coulson


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14 Looking at Windmills ART Before visiting the windmill ask pupils to bring into class pictures of old buildings. Ask them to present the buildings according to their purpose. Discuss the different features of the buildings, the door, windows, shapes and building materials. Then introduce some old pictures of the windmill you are about to visit. This will prepare pupils for their observational work on site. The exterior of the windmill The exterior of the windmill is dominated by the sweeps. The building is functional but it is made of several different elements, geometric shapes and materials. Discuss why the shapes and the design are functional rather than decorative. Ask if there are any decorative features that can be seen on the exterior of the building. Doors and staircases Access to the windmill and movement around the interior of the building is often difficult. Explore what messages the functional design of the building conveys about the building. In the cramped spaces within the windmill the shapes of the timber, the form and the texture of the wood can be recorded, including the interplay of light and shadow. Doors often vary in size and shape. The panels, latches and catches also tell the observer about the functional nature of the building. Unusual features Windmills contain a wealth of unusual features. Outside the sweeps identify the power and function of the building. Inside there are numerous features that provide evidence for the construction and working of the mill.


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15 Music and the mills

Windmills and weather can be used as a stimulus for pupils to explore the ways in which sounds can be used expressively.

The QCA Music scheme of work - Unit 7 suggests ways in which weather can be used as a stimulus to explore timbre, tempo and dynamics. The ideas below are taken from this scheme.

Introduction

Children can be asked to read poetry, sing songs and listen to pieces of music which describe windmills and different types of weather.

How windmills and weather can be described by sounds

Pupils can think about the noises made by a working windmill and the different types of weather which make sounds, e.g. thunder, heavy rain, hail, gales. They can also consider the sounds which describe how they might be feeling, for example, working in the mill.

How sounds can be changed

Explore different ways of saying these words to create an effect, e.g. rain getting heavier: for example saying words quicker or slower, louder or quieter.

Instruments and weather

Pupils can use different instruments or materials to make the sounds described by their weather words, e.g. drum rolls could be used for thunder, whilst gentle tapping could be used for rainfall. These can be combined with words to describe a chosen type of weather or the noise of the windmill working.

Making a weather composition

Pupils can think about the sequence of production in a mill and put together a composition of words and sounds using instruments to describe the process. They should think about a structure to the piece, and what instruments, sounds and tempos work best. Different groups can work on different sequences, then play these back to the rest of the class.


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16 ICT and Windmills There are several ways that ICT can be used to assist the work on site.

• Digital cameras are an ideal way of recording details cheaply. Several pictures can be taken, only some may be printed. An archive of images can be kept for future visits on the shared network.

• Powerpoint presentations are an ideal way of getting children to present a concise

measured argument. For example they could be asked to provide a brief guide for a windmill.

• The compilation of a small database can reveal patterns that help understand the

development and the decline of milling.

• Producing a six panel gatefold pamphlet is an ideal way of focussing children on writing an account of their visit.

• Consider a presentation of the work to parents after or during school time.

• Producing a newsletter about the visit is another way of communications with parents.

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17 ICT TASK

Internet research into windmills

ICT Activity Planner Year Group: 6 Resources: Computers, web browser, favourites, internet connection.

Context

T L K

Te

Lin

Bw

Ta

FoTe

Pupils have visited a local windmill and are researching more information about the history of themill. They have some experience of internet research.

ask Description

Pupils decide which aspect or mill they are going to research. They have a key question to investigate with several ‘smaller’ questions to help them structure their answer.

earning Intentions

nowledge and Understanding ICT: Skills, Knowledge and Understanding ICT Level KS1 KS2 KS3

w/1 2/3 4/5

Pupils use a wide range of information. They use skimmingand scanning strategies to

1/2 3/4 5/6

Demonstrate factual knowledge and understanding of some of the main events, people and

2/3 4/5 6/7

Ask and find answers to questions about the past from various sources of information.Begin to select and combine

Teachers’ Guide for the Kent Windm

aching Approach

ks with other curriculum areas

rief introduction. Key question with a ith pupils reporting back their finding

he most important links are those witnd reading in their research and prese

rms of Assessment acher Observation. Peer/Self

Able to use keywords within asearch engine to find information.

Use the internet for research purposes. Move from site to siteusing appropriate software.

Use ICT to combine different forms of information. Copy, paste or modify text and imagesfrom different sources into a

ICT POS related to task: 1a, 2b, 2c

POS related to task : LocalHistory

ills Education Pack Ian Coulson

research pathway – several supporting questions. Group work s. Emphasis on the reliability of the websites.

h literacy. Speaking, listening in the group work and writing ntation of the findings.

Assessment. Teacher/Child Discussion.


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17 PUPIL Research Groups Group 1 Produce a summary of the history of windmills. History of wind energy http://www.globalwinds.com/windenergy_history.shtml History of wind power http://telosnet.com/wind/early.html History of Windmills http://www.millarchive.com/4schools/history.aspx History of windmills http://www.windmillworld.com/windmills/history.htm Group 2 Produce a time line of the major changes in the design of windmills A windmills time line USA http://www.newton.mec.edu/Brown/TE/HOT/TIMELINES/WIND/wind_timeline.html Group 3 Collect images of as many different types of windmill and put them into a Powerpoint presentation. For the types of windmill http://www.building-history.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Buildings/Mills.htm http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/mills/mills.htm http://www.spoom.org/ Group 4 Find out what happened at Chillenden windmill. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3240320.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3320755.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3585157.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4577153.stm Group 5 Produce a Powerpoint presentation of windmills from at least ten countries. Long list of windmill websites, including international listings http://www.solarnavigator.net/windmill_links.htm Windmills from around the world – some links http://www.windmillworld.com/ Group 6 Why are people sometimes opposed to wind farms? Go to the BBC web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/ And research using the key words ‘wind farms’


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18 Oral History There are no people still alive who worked the windmills when they were a commercial concern. There are however, many people who are able to work the windmills and who maintain the buildings and the machinery. It is worth taking the opportunity to briefly interview these people during the visit. Much of the practical information about how to run and work the windmill has not been written down so the practical experience of people can be very enlightening. It does help the children to understand these very complex buildings. Pupils do need to do some preparation before the visit. They need some knowledge of the windmill, the history and the technology of the building and the site. Armed with this knowledge and some carefully prepared questions they will be able to find out much more about milling and the windmill. It is as well to take with you a glossary and be prepared to translate the technical vocabulary that might be used by any interviewee, guides or displays. For excellent advice refer to the Oral History Society web site. The advice section is especially useful. What is oral history? http://www.ohs.org.uk/advice/ Key Oral History Organisations

• Oral History Society (UK) http://www.oralhistory.org.uk • Oral History Association (US) http://omega.dickinson.edu/organizations/oha/ • Canadian Oral History Association http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/oral-history/ • International Oral History Association http://www.ioha.fgv.br/ • H-Oralhist is a network for scholars and professionals active in studies related to oral

history http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~oralhist/ Oral History Handbooks and Bibliographies

• Finnegan, Ruth, Oral Traditions and the Verbal Arts: A Guide to Research Practices, London, Routledge, 1992.

• Perks, Robert, Oral History: An Annotated Bibliography, London, British Library National Sound Archive, 1990.

• Perks, Robert, Oral History: Talking About the Past, London, Historical Association, second edition 1995.

• Ritchie, Don, Doing Oral History, New York, Twayne, 1995. • Seldon, Anthony and Pappworth, Joanna, By Word of Mouth: Elite Oral History, London,

Methuen, 1983. • Thompson, Paul, The Voice of the Past: Oral History, Oxford: Oxford University Press,

third edition, 2000. • Trask, David and Pomeroy, Robert, The Craft of Public History: An Annotated Select

Bibliography, Westport, Greenwood, 1983. • Perks, Robert & Thomson, Al (eds), The Oral History Reader, London, Routledge 1998.


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19 History of Chillenden Mill - Grade II* listed Chillenden village has had a windmill for many centuries. The one that stands today was built in 1868, one of the last windmills to be built in Kent and certainly the last of its type (an open-trestle post mill). Post mills were the earliest form of windmill. It probably replaced a previous mill, although this may not have stood in exactly the same spot, and perhaps re-used material from its predecessor, since a seventeenth century date was found inscribed on a timber. Although it is not known exactly where the earlier mill stood, several ancient maps, including one of 1695, have a mill marked in the area. Directories of the nineteenth century, listing local trades people, reveal the names of several millers who worked earlier mills. Between 1866 and 1878 the miller of Chillenden was recorded as John Brice Gibbens, who may therefore have worked both the earlier mill and the one we see today. One wonders what Mr Gibbens made of the reason behind the new mill's location. Local legend has it that the mill was built on this spot at the behest of a lady of the D'Aeth family, the local gentry, who had recently returned from Holland and wished to be able to see a windmill from Knowlton Court, the family home. Certainly the mill is visible at the end of the tree-lined avenue leading from the family seat. Whether the mill was built by Dutch or English millwrights is unknown, but, whatever the truth of the legend, there is definitely a strong Dutch influence on the architectural style of some Chillenden houses and within surrounding villages. The mill, in common with most, was owned by the local estate, in this case that of the D'Aeths, and leased to a miller. By 1882 Hayward & Cage, 'millers and farmers' were working the mill, followed by William Hopper Bean between 1887 and his death in 1909. After William's death, his wife Eliza carried on milling for two years before giving up the tenancy. By 1911 Fredrick Neves was the miller. He was buried in Chillenden churchyard after his death in 1920 aged sixty nine, and was joined by his wife Mary two years later on her death. The last years of their lives must have been sorrowful; the church contains a plaque in memory of their son who perished in 1918 in the First World War at the Battle of Amiens, aged only twenty eight. Albert Henry Laker took over in 1920, and worked the mill for twenty six years. The lease between Albert and the Speed family, who now owned Knowlton Court, agreed an annual rent for Millers Farm and its thirty eight acres, including the windmill, of £60. Albert and wife Nell lived in Millers Farm, which still stands, opposite Chillenden village hall. Albert had never seen inside a mill before taking the lease, but he soon mastered the work. He was known for his kindness, darning holes in sacks belonging to farmers who had sent corn for grinding. Perhaps some took advantage of his generous spirit, as the number of damaged sacks he received gradually increased! He offered a home to his twelve year-old nephew Norman William Laker, one of a family of eight split up after the death of their mother. Albert and Nell were childless, and treated Norman as their son. During Albert's tenure, the mill was twice put up for sale by the Speeds, in 1926 and in 1930. A prospectus was drawn up in 1930 by Brigadier Speed, a major in HM Lifeguards, for an auction in Canterbury, but as far as is known, the sale did not go ahead. Maintenance of the mill was on-going throughout its working life, the hand-crafted work often being a lengthy process. The millwright from Hole & Son, responsible for the manufacture and fitting of a middling (sail stock) and two new sweeps, actually lodged with Albert and Nell for eighteen months during 1927 and 1928. The crosstrees were repaired prior to this in 1926, and subsequently had more work done in 1934 when large channel irons were fitted to withstand


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19 forecast gales. Albert knew how to 'dress' the two pairs of millstones himself, and passed his skill on to Norman. Norman Laker eventually became the last miller of Chillenden, starting work at fourteen with Albert and continuing after Albert's retirement due to poor health in 1946. Norman married Win, a blacksmiths daughter, in 1942. Their daughter Christine recalls childhood visits to the mill; I would totter across the field with my father's tea in a little enamelled pot with a cup upturned on top, my mother's words ringing in my ears -"mind the sweeps!" I remember being inside with Dad whilst he was working, smelling the grain, hearing the sounds and feeling the movement of the mill.' This movement was enough to give Win motion sickness if she was inside the mill when it was grinding. To slow the sweeps down when grinding had finished, Norman would leap and catch one as it sailed past, going up with it, then dropping to the ground, repeating this several times. Norman also took over Albert's coal business run from Millers Farm, bagging up bulk loads for local sale from a small lorry. Christine recalls her father, working half the week with flour and the other half with coal, as 'always either black or white’. In 1949 the mill was badly damaged in a gale and became 'headsick', leaning forward with one sweep touching the ground. Subsequently it stood silent for many years, gradually deteriorating. The stairs became blocked with debris created by nesting jackdaws, woodworm attacked interior fittings and exterior wood rotted. After windpower was no longer possible, Norman carried on grinding with a hammer mill for some years in the shed at the back of the mill, before working as a coal merchant full time. Until 1984 he was Custodian of the mill, showing visitors around. The last miller died on 14th November 1997. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings began investigating the possibility of repairing the mill in 1950, and by 1955 local people had raised enough money to weatherproof it, but not for full repair. In 1958, Kent County Council bought the mill, the first of eight that they now own and maintain. Subsequent restoration unfortunately saw some of the original milling equipment removed - stone tuns and hoppers, a flour dresser, many of the meal chutes and the maize kibbler. The adjoining barn was also demolished; Chillenden's acquisition was primarily as a landscape feature, rather than a workable mill. By 1983 the mill was in a critical condition. Major structural work over a 6-month period was undertaken, which involved lifting the mill and removing the crosstrees for repair. In 1984 the sweeps were removed and repaired by millwrights Hole & Son, the very same company that had stayed with Albert many years before, during 1926/7. A successful Heritage Lottery Fund bid by Kent County Council enabled major work during 2001/2 to repair fully and restore the outward appearance of the mill. The maximum amount of material was reused, although more was replaced than would normally be acceptable, due to its exposed position and relatively light construction. Work also included the replacement of the original sweeps and stocks with new ones. Disaster struck, however, in November 2003. High, gusty winds rocked the mill and it collapsed. It was effectively rebuilt off-site and to a sounder condition than the original build. This approach, of prefabricated construction, was probably the original method of construction. It was to be a further two years before the damage was made good, but eventually, on 13th September 2005, Chillenden Mill was once again opened to the public. Today, the mill volunteers regularly welcome visitors throughout the summer months. Acknowledgements are due to: John F. George 'Chillenden Windmill' Christine Dawkins (miller's daughter). The Chillenden Mill Committee.


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20 History of the Union Mill, Cranbrook - Grade I listed Reputed to be the finest smock mill in the country, Union Mill is one of only two Grade 1-listed windmills in Kent. The village already had two mills when it was built; both are long-since gone. Union Mill is now the only survivor. Construction was initiated in 1814 by Mary Dobell, who owned the land on which the mill stands. She employed James Humphrey, a noted local millwright who had already constructed at least 3 other mills in Kent, and the total cost was around £1500. Mary's son, Henry, was installed as the miller. Since the land was surrounded by buildings, a three-storey base was built to lift the sails above the turbulence caused by their roofs. Topped by another four storeys, the mill is consequently over 22 metres high, the tallest smock mill in England. The brick base is tarred and has a reefing stage at third-floor level. On completion, Humphrey's son supposedly stood on top of the mill and blew a bugle when it began to turn; 'free drink was provided for all, and there was great hilarity in celebrating the event'! Economic depression, and the disbanding of much of the nation's military forces who had previously required large supplies of flour during the Napoleonic Wars, led to Dobell's bankruptcy in 1819. Five of his creditors acquired the mill between them, forming the Union of Creditors and working the mill to recover the debt. The mill has been known as Union Mill ever since. In 1832, the Union sold the mill to brothers John and George Russell, millers from Waldron, near Heathfield in Sussex. By 1840 they were facing competition from more efficient mills, so they replaced the canvas sails with Cubitt's patent shuttered sails, the wooden cog wheels and gearing with ironwork, and the manual endless-chain mechanism, used to turn the cap, with a fantail. A ten-horsepower Middleton steam engine was installed in 1863 to drive three pairs of millstones on the first floor of the mill during becalmed periods. Gradually, this engine superseded the sails, and by 1870 the mill was no longer wind-driven. During the 1880s the old wooden wide reefing stage was rotting and was replaced by the narrower iron structure you see today. The Russell family ran the mill until it finally ceased working. John's son, Ebenezer, took over from his father in 1875, and was followed by his son, Hugh. Hugh's elder brother, Caleb, who was already milling at Mersham Watermill near Ashford, reluctantly inherited the mill in 1902, when Hugh emigrated to Australia. Caleb's son, John, took over the mill in 1918 on his father's death. Over the next few years John restored wind power by spreading canvas over the sail frames and fitting a new fantail, admitting that the wind never earned him any profit, but wishing for sentiment's sake to restore the mill. The day-to-day work of grinding, however, was done by a suction-gas engine, which replaced the steam engine in 1919. John's niece, Helen Wilson, lived in Mill House as a child. She recalled lying snug in bed, listening to the canvas flapping on the sweeps. Buildings surrounding the mill in those days included a grain mixing shed, a wagon shed, a forge, and stables containing cart horses. Helen also remembers the large open water tank, whose contents were used to cool the gas engine, but which was also used as a pool by local children. The numerous frogs inside, however, did not appeal to Helen as swimming companions. The only remaining building to stand of the original


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20 John Russell's background as a submarine engineer before working the mill was to prove invaluable, as he was able to carry out most of the work himself. Recognition of his dedication to the preservation of Union Mill was made in 1935, with the presentation of the first ever Windmill Certificate by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). In 1949, Union Mill became the first windmill to be Listed. By 1951 John Russell's health was failing and he took a partner, Mr Lewis, who restructured the business to try and make it more competitive. Machinery was removed from the first and second floors and an electric roller mill installed. The mill concentrated on producing animal feeds. Most of the buildings in the outside yard were demolished, and a shed was built to take the mixing machinery. The new venture did not prove successful, however, and the business eventually relied on selling bought-in feed products. In 1958, Kent County Council, aided by the SPAB, started repairs, on the day that John Russell, the last miller, died. A friend of John Russell, the Dutch millwright Chris Bremer, was employed; a pair of his clogs still hang beside the shop. Work stopped when it was realised that further funds were required, but after acquisition of the mill by the County Council in 1960, was finally completed. It included renewal of the sweeps, weatherboarding of the cap and much of the smock, renewal and splicing of several posts and repair of the curb. The mill was returned to its nineteenth century appearance, although the sails were of Dutch, rather than the original English, style. KCC rented out the mill as a store and distribution centre for animal feeds for the next twenty years; all the remaining machinery in the base was removed. In 1982 local residents decided to open the windmill to the public and formed the Cranbrook Windmill Association in 1983. Flour was once again ground by wind power in 1985, and by 1987 this was on sale to visitors. In 1994, on a mid-summer evening, thunder, lightning and torrential rain accompanied a rapid change in wind direction, resulting in the fantail blowing off, knocking slats out of the sweeps on its way to the ground. By the autumn, scaffolding was up and repairs were done, with a complete new fantail fitted. Whilst the scaffolding was in place the mill was also repainted. More recent extensive work, funded by a Heritage Lottery grant, included the removal and complete rebuilding of the mill cap, repairing the structural frame, reboarding the smock and minimising the effect of damp in the brick base. The volunteer group has taken advantage of this by making use of the previously unused basement as a public area. A highly visible alteration was the replacement of the Dutch style sweeps with sweeps in the Kentish style, proven by historic photographs to have been previously fitted. When the wind blows, the volunteers who staff the mill set the sweeps to turn and flour is ground. Cranbrook is one of only a very few mills in the country to use wind power alone. Today the mill is regularly open to the public, and several thousand visitors are welcomed each year. Acknowledgements are due to: The Cranbrook Windmill Association. A Guide to Union Windmill, Cranbrook, Kent by Wynn Tremenheere. A Lighthearted Look at Windmills & Cranbrook in Particular by Mary Tremenheere.


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21 History of Drapers Mill, Margate - Grade II listed Now standing as a solitary landmark, surrounded by housing and the laughter of children in the nearby school playground, Drapers Mill was once just one of a line of mills that graced the high point above Margate. A map of Thanet made in 1719 shows a post mill in the area, and three more mills were built between 1845 and 1872. The only survivor of these last three is Drapers Mill, known as 'The Old Mill' since it was the first of the trio to be constructed in 1845. The other two were a tower mill, known as the 'Pumper', and a smock mill, known as 'Little Drapers'. The Pumper, a large five-sweep mill that pumped water, was built between 1858 and 1872. Rebuilt in 1878 after a severe gale, it ended its days in 1894 after the cap and sweeps were destroyed by tailwinding. 'Little Drapers' arrived in 1869 after being moved from nearby Barham; dismantled in 1929, by 1930 only the base remained, to be finally removed in the 1950s. Drapers Mill was probably built John Holman of Canterbury, a well-known millwright. Octagonal in shape, it has a brick base and black-tarred weatherboarding and cap. Unlike many other mills, Drapers is lucky to have an original outbuilding still standing; the bakehouse, which once worked in cooperation with the mill, is now used as a workshop for the mill volunteers labours. The first known miller was John Banks, listed as such in a Directory of 1847, and still in occupation in 1866. He was followed by F & E Darby in the late 1860s and then Thomas Ind from 1870. The latter was a colourful figure who, although born in Gloucestershire, England, had travelled to America and worked in the Baptist Ministry in Iowa, then farmed in Illinois before finally settling at Drapers Mills. Thomas Ind died in 1899, and in 1902 the mill and other properties associated with it were bought by the Michael Yoakley Trust, a local charity founded by one of the first Quakers at the start of the eighteenth century. It appears that the name of Ind carried on in business, since the three-year lease after the sale bears this name. An advertisement in the local newspaper proclaims them as 'Bakers, Confectioners and Family Millers'. By 1905, however, Thomas Robert Laidlaw was the miller. The mill worked by wind with steam auxiliary power until 1916. By 1925 the Margate Bakery Company owned the mill and during their tenure, in 1927, the sweeps and the fantail were removed as they were deemed unsafe. A 20hp gas engine subsequently powered the mill until the mid- 1930s, when it ceased to grind altogether. After this, the mill was used for storage by a company known as Longbottom Pantony, who distributed animal feed, coal and corn, and by Lythgoe's, a similar concern. Drapers Mill's final commercial use was in the late 1950s as a 'tuck' shop. Local people, many of whom went to the adjacent Draper's Mills Primary School, remember visiting Miss Hart, the proprietor, for a bag of sweets. Once abandoned, the structure began to deteriorate until little of its former glory remained. The Isle of Thanet Gazette referred to the mill as 'that ugly wooden construction on the Dane Valley skyline. It is hardly a thing of beauty'. In 1965 Draper's Mill Trust was set up to restore the mill, initiated by Mr Towes, headmaster at the Primary School. He and colleagues worked to raise £2,500 towards restoration. An annual 'Windmill Fair' was held in the school grounds to raise money. Kent County Council acquired the mill in 1968, averting the intended demolition. Restoration continued over the next few years, involving renewal of much of the weatherboarding, the entire fan stage, and the addition of two new pairs of sweeps.


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21 The first floor stage had been intended for Barham Downs Mill, also undergoing restoration, but this mill burnt down in 1970, so Drapers became the beneficiary instead. By 1972 two sweeps were in place, and another pair were added in 1974. Work was finally completed in 1975 and once again Drapers Mill turned to grind corn. Much of the original machinery remains, including three pairs of millstones, two of Derbyshire Peak and one of French Burr. Since the initial restoration, other work has included removal of the cap in 1994 to repair the kerb. Recent Heritage Lottery-funded work included removing the cap for structural repair and reboarding, repairs and reboarding to the smock and rebuilding the sweeps. A 20hp gas engine, similar to the vanished original, has been donated by the Museum of London. Extra shafting and gearing are in place, to enable the engine to turn the millstones and machinery when restored with funding from a European 'Interreg' project. This project has also twinned Drapers Mill with the Moulin Tellier (Tellier Mill) in the village of Bussus-Bussuel in the Somme valley, France. A small museum of eighteenth and nineteenth century milling artefacts has been created, together with displays of larger farm machinery. Acknowledgements are due to: David Keep The Draper's Windmill Trust at Margate


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22 History of Herne Mill - Grade I listed Herne Mill was probably built in 1789, an early specimen of a smock mill and the oldest of the six mills of this type that Kent County Council own and maintain. This date can still be seen incised into one of the cant posts. A sequence of mills had stood in the area since the early fifteenth century; transcripts of accounts written in Latin in 1405 by the Treasurer of Christ Church, Canterbury, show repairs, including a new sail, to a mill at Herne, and ancient maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries depict mills in Herne. The existing mill itself replaced an earlier post mill that had once stood on, or near, the present site. It is octagonal, tarred and weatherboarded and originally stood on low brick base. The original miller was Job Lawrance, the first of a family line that worked the mill for ninety years. Job died in 1795, and was referred to as being 'upwards of 40 years miller at Herne’ so he milled elsewhere within the area before coming to the present mill. His entitlement to vote in the Parliamentary elections of 1790 indicate that he was a freeholder, owning the mill, rather than renting it as shown by tax returns relating to the previous mill. Job was succeeded by his 32-year old nephew, John, and wife Sarah, whose sons Job, John and Edward followed in their father's footsteps after his death in 1840. During their tenure, the whole wooden structure was bodily raised and two stories of brickwork were built up underneath. This rise of over five metres enabled the mill to soar above surrounding trees which had grown high enough to shield it from the wind. The two new stories became the present ground and meal floors. Initials carved into the brickwork of the new base on either side of the entrance are likely to be those responsible for the building. On the left, 'EL 1856' and 'WM' appear, and to the right, IL 1856 and JL 1856. 'JL' has three possible 'Lawrance' candidates; Job, 1799-1868, who would have been 57 at the time, his brother, John, 1810-1876 (46), or his son, also John, 1820-1894 (36). 'EL' was Edward, and 'WM' was the Lawrance's nephew, William Minter. It is easy to imagine the men admiring their finished handiwork, and proudly making their mark. A tale of tragic death within the mill has not been proven, but one of the Lawrance family is said to have hung himself there. It may be significant that Edward is not named on the family gravestone in Herne churchyard. In 1876 the last surviving Lawrance brother, John, died. He left the mill to his sister-in-law, Edward's widow. Three years later, she sold the mill to Thomas Wootton, who, with his brother John, had been a miller at Chislet before taking over Herne. Three generations of Woottons were to work the mill over the next ninety nine years. In 1904 the Woottons installed a steam engine, housed in a shed southwest of the mill, to provide more power when the wind was low. The hurricane of 1987 destroyed this engine shed; the building standing today is a replica. The steam engine was supplanted in 1925, by a 'Mogul' tractor engine in another shed. Frank Wootton, son of Thomas, was the miller by the autumn of 1931, when the cap stuck. The broken wooden worm was replaced by a cast iron one and new wooden cogs were fitted to the curb. Although these repairs were carried out, the mill did not run by wind for several years afterwards as the money could not be found to replace two missing sweeps. Frank contacted the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and a report was drawn up. The expert in charge, Rex Wailes, gave the mill two sweeps, which had originated on a mill in Norfolk. An estimate for work was obtained and a fund raising appeal was begun by SPAB with the support of local organisations and societies.


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22 An extensive repair programme was undertaken in 1936 by Thomas B Hunt, a millwright from Cambridgeshire. The other two sweeps unexpectedly needed renewing too, so Mr Hunt made those. The cost was borne by SPAB, the Duchess of Kent (Princess Marie Louise) and by Trinity House, to whom the mill was of value as a navigational landmark. As far back as 1844, The Thames Estuary Southern Part chart depicted the mill with a bearing line of 350 degrees emitting from it, indicating a conspicuous feature to bring ships safely into Herne Bay. In 1932 the legend '(conspic)' was added to the mill and this continued on charts until 1992. The mill last worked by wind in 1952; following this, milling was done by Clive and Edwin Wootton, sons of Frank and grandsons of Thomas, for a few more years by an electric flail mill within the base. After the mill ceased grinding, the Herne Society undertook various schemes to preserve it, including replacing cladding and straightening the tower. The cap was rebuilt in 1971 by millwright Vincent Pargeter, following an appeal to raise funds instigated by the Society. In full working order, the cap and associated machinery weigh about thirteen tons. Clive Wootton sold the mill in 1980, but the new owner's plans for its incorporation into a garden centre did not materialise. Kent County Council subsequently bought the mill in 1984. It was in need of immediate restoration, having succumbed to wet rot and insect damage. The structure of the smock was rebuilt and a new pair of sweeps added. The mill officially opened to the public in July 1986, operated by the Friends of Herne Mill on behalf of the County Council. Further work was done in the early 90s, to repair the cap frame and the kerb, and to erect a second steel stock and a set of sweeps. In 1991 the mill stones once again ground under windpower for the first time in nearly forty years. In 1996 the stocks and sweeps were removed, as the cap was not turning properly after a gale. Closed to the public, the mill was identified as in danger. Emergency repair work was part-funded by English Heritage, and included removing the cap and renewing a large part of the curb-ring, replacing the steel stocks with new, and lighter, laminated timber versions, and tarring and repainting the exterior. Herne Mill eventually reopened to the public in June 1999. Soon after this, the Parish Council part-funded conversion of the engine house, rebuilt after the 1987 hurricane, to become an office and meeting room for the Parish Council and Friends of Herne Mill. This is now named ‘The Wootton Room', in honour of the millers in occupation for so long. Herne Mill is now, more than ever, a central feature of the local community. Acknowledgements are due to: The Friends of Herne Mill. A History of Milling in the Herne Bay Area by Harold Gough Andrew Colvin, Queen Elizabeth II High School, Isle of Man, for research into use of the mill in navigation.


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23 History of Meopham Mill - Grade II* listed Meopham Mill was built in the early nineteenth century by a family well-known for milling in Kent, the Killicks. Many previous mills had stood within the parish of Meopham, the earliest reference to their existence being in 1240, when 'Robert the miller's' premises stood in the west of the parish. It is likely that the present mill was built soon after 1819, as James Killick bought the land on which it stands in that year for £125. Some sources state that James was helped in the construction by three of his sons, the eldest of whom, born in 1792, was named after his father. Mr Killick did not live long to enjoy his new acquisition as he died in 1823, aged fifty six. Perhaps he forsaw his fate, as in his will, made only months before, he declared himself 'weak in body but of perfect mind and memory'. It appears that after his death, his wife Sukey (the name being a pet form of Susan, well-known in rhyme for taking the kettle off, but less common elsewhere!), carried on as the owner of the mill, with son James as the miller. The mill was supposedly built as an exemplar to show off to potential customers; the Killicks were millwrights as well as millers. James's brothers, Thomas and John, milled at Broom Hill, Strood, in another unusually-shaped hexagonal mill like Meopham, now long since dismantled. Stories have been told that Meopham Mill was constructed from the timbers of an old battleship dismantled at Chatham Dockyard; whilst incorrect, they perhaps have a kernel of truth. Some of the mill's large posts contain holes of similar appearance to those drilled into timber destined for use for shipbuilding. The holes enabled the wood to soak up brine more effectively whilst floating in dock, allowing expansion and seasoning of the wood. Those sections with holes were trimmed before use in the boatyard and sold off. Certainly the mill timbers do not appear originally intended for mill-building, and the holes do not correspond to any machinery fixings. From their mill at Strood, the Killicks would have had easy access to dockyard timbers from the River Medway. Upon his mother's death in 1836, James raised a mortgage to pay his ten brothers and sisters for their share of the mill, enabling him to become sole owner. The property, which included the land, Mill House, outbuildings, carts and probably a horse, was valued at £963.15s. Od. During James Killick's proprietorship, Meopham supposedly acquired a ghost, that of Bob Bennett, a worker at the mill. Bob's initials can still be seen where he carved them in the mill timbers in 1845. Bob hanged himself in a nearby barn, but returned to haunt his workplace until, the locals say, his ghost was laid to rest when the barn where he met his end was bombed, and flattened, during World War Two. James appears as 'miller' in various directories down to 1874 and was joined in partnership with his son Thomas, and Richard Killick, perhaps a brother, in 1882. James' will of 1888 left the mill and the rest of his estate to Thomas; he died at Meopham aged ninety seven, in December 1889 and is buried with his wife, Harriet, in Meopham churchyard. Thomas continued milling, but like his grandfather, died quite early, at the age of fifty three, in April 1891. He and wife Matilda had no children to carry on the Killick milling line at Meopham, and she sold the mill four months later for £830. The new owner of the mill was John Norton, also from a long-standing milling family. His father, David, had worked the mill at Farningham until his death in 1870, and his brother Tanner milled at West Kingsdown (probably the same mill, moved from Farningham - also in this guide). By 1895, John had been joined in business by his nephew William, Tanner's son. Their trading name, J & W Norton, remained until the business finally closed. They were also joined by Leslie, William's son, born in 1895, when he left school.


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23 William wished to marry in 1894 and John, already living in Mill House, offered him some of the mill land to build his own house if he could raise the necessary money. William built what is now Orchard House and his new wife, Clara, ran a sweet shop on the road frontage, and also tea rooms. John Norton died in 1908, William inheriting his entire estate. According to various mortgage documents and judgements against him, William's financial situation seems to have been somewhat precarious into the early 1920s. Photographs of the period show the mill incapable of grinding, lacking two sweeps due to storm damage, the other two beyond repair, and the business was reduced to selling goods only. Around 1923, however, a 15hp paraffin-petrol engine was installed in a shed by the mill to turn the stones, which included a new set added to the previous pairs. Animal feeds were produced, the last flour having been ground in 1914. William Norton dressed his own stones, and was proud of his skill j(see glossary for stone dressing). Later in the 1920s, a storm blew up which threatened to topple the mill. William and two of his sons, Leslie and David, spent all night wrestling with the fan/brake wheel? which had broken away from its gear and was wildly whirling, sending out sparks and rocking the cap. Their triumph was catalogued in the local press as 'Gallant All-night Battle to Save a Windmill'. Leslie and David both worked in the mill, the latter taking charge of the business before the Second World War and living in Orchard House, whilst his ageing father remained in Mill House. Leslie's younger son Christopher also helped in the late 50s and early 60s. William Norton had died in 1951 and Leslie, as his heir, carried on running the mill until his own demise in 1967. Leslie realised that help was needed to maintain the mill, and he sold the mill and engine house to Kent County Council with the agreement that they would undertake restoration work and lease the mill back to him. In 1959, a 999 year lease at a peppercorn rent was agreed, and the mill subsequently underwent extensive restoration at a cost of over £4000, by millwrights E. Hole & Son, of Sussex. This included renewal of the sweeps and fantail in skeletal form, the cap, all weatherboarding of the smock, inter-floor ladders and flooring and the staging at second floor level. Unfortunately, the lack of a working fantail meant that the cap remained stationary, leaving it constantly buffeted by the elements from the same prevailing direction. The sweeps were found to have dry rot in 1978, so were replaced the following year when new, hollow, steel stocks were fitted. Meopham Parish Council acquired the lease of the mill and the freehold of the surrounding land from the executors of Leslie Norton's estate. Meopham Windmill Trust was formed and did much clearance of undergrowth, demolishing of tumble-down sheds and extracting of spare machinery parts from jumbles built up over the operating years of the mill. Most of the interior machinery of this mill is still intact, including an electric motor installed in 1946, superseding the previous engine. Two millstones from here were supposedly placed in the forecourt of the Bank of England by Sir Herbert Baker, the architect of the Bank, who lived near the mill. Recent Heritage Lottery-funded work has seen the cap removed and the frame repaired, including the total replacement of the failed breast beam in the cap. Rebuilding the sweeps and replacing the reefing stage walkway was also done. Acknowledgements are due to: The Meopham Mill Trust The Killicks and The Nortons, Millers in Meopham by James Carley.


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24 History of Stelling Minnis - Grade II listed At least five windmills are known to have stood in the parish of Stelling Minnis at various times; the earliest known was recorded on a map of 1736. Davison's Mill, as the present mill is known, is an octagonal smock mill built on a low brick base, standing upon a mound that has supported at least two previous mills. Evidence for their existence was proven in an archaeological excavation which uncovered the foundations of two post mills, including the mill that was dismantled to make way for the present one, built in 1866. Thomas Richard Holman, millwright of Canterbury, constructed the mill for the first miller, George Goble. Mr Goble worked it until his death in 1878, when it was taken over by Henry W. Davison, whose father ran Hawkinge Mill. The Davison family were to work Stelling Minnis mill until the autumn of 1970, an incredible 92-year tenure, also working the nearby Brambleton post mill from 1878 to 1881. They lived in the large mill house (known as Gordon House) at the top of Mill Lane. One of the outbuildings here housed a bakery, making bread from flour ground at the mill. When Henry Davison retired, a small, low window was supposedly created in the west wall of a downstairs room of Gordon House, enabling him to sit in his armchair and view 'happenings' at the mill. After Henry's death in 1940, his son Alec carried on as miller, living at Gordon House with his sister Dorothy, who kept the mill accounts in neat handwriting. Alec was to be the last traditional miller in Kent. Obviously a much respected man, the oldest residents of the village remembered Alec: 'He was the last person I knew to use those lovely old words like "scuppit" (a corn scoop), and "bodge " (a quantity of corn of no specific measure). He was a miller and a farmer in the old style and until just a few years before his death, he delivered sacks of corn around the parish by horse and cart'. Donald Dougall Villagers also recall Alec fast asleep atop his cart in the lane, being pulled safely home by his horse after milling non-stop, for, if the wind was right, the mill ground constantly, day and night. When this happened in its heyday, as many as three horse and carts were used for deliveries, including for the daily run to the railway station at Lyminge to pick up supplies. Alec was helped at the mill by Sam Harris, a great character, who was a stalwart member of the Methodist Church and a local preacher. Sam was able to 'dress' the millstones, but foolhardy enough to crawl through the brake wheel whilst the mill was operating if he wanted to get to the front of it - a very dangerous habit! He once climbed to the top of the working mill at midnight when bored and had seen 'a wonderful comet'. On the second floor of the mill, on the cant and supporting posts, are personal records, made in pencil by a stone dresser, of visits made to the mill in June, July and September 1881, in July 1895 and in January 1899. The inscriptions finish 'signed T.Crittle, - stonedresser.' These faint marks reveal the same man returning to the mill over a period of 18 years to rework the stones; as elderly resident Harold Pilcher remarked, life was but continuous ', in a 'close and tranquil community '. In 1923, a Rushton & Hornsby engine was installed by Holman Bros, the same firm that had built the mill over fifty years before. The sweeps had to be shortened so that they cleared the small brick building outside the mill which housed the engine. The engine was perhaps the only means of power shortly after this, since a photograph of 1930 shows the mill in poor condition, particularly the sweeps and stage. The engine was not in operation by the end of the mill's working life, and during its final years the mill was driven by just one pair of sweeps when the wind permitted.


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24 The mill was restored in 1935 in memory of Ranald MacDonald Laurie (died 1927), by his sister Hilda Laurie, who donated £550 for the work. A wooden plaque displayed on the first floor of the mill records her gift. The family's main residence was in Canterbury, but they had a summer house near the mill, which they obviously regarded with much affection. Again, Holman Bros did the work. The weatherboarding was renewed, as was the cap and stage. Four new stocks and sweeps replaced the old ones, and the mill was powered by the wind once more, the engine only being used when the wind was insufficient. The Windmill Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings presented a certificate as 'A record of the Society's appreciation of zeal in the maintenance of these beautiful structures'. By 1940, when Alec Davison took over, the timber supporting the mill on its brick base was rotten, so it was completely replaced. Regular soaking with creosote and paraffin preserved it and ensured that rodents would not chew the wood. A decade later, one pair of the sweeps fitted in 1935 had deteriorated, and they were eventually blown down in a gale in May 1951. For the rest of its working life, until 1970, the mill ran on only one pair of sweeps. The engine had failed in 1960 and was never repaired. Kent County Council acquired the mill in 1970 after Alec Davison's death. Extensive restoration was carried out by millwrights Vincent Pargeter and Philip Lennard. They renewed much of the weatherboarding, completely re-built the stage and added a new porch. A new cap frame and cap was built and in 1975 the existing two sweeps were renewed and another two added. Once again, Stelling Minnis had a full complement of sweeps. Mills need constant attention, however, and by 1987 a pair of steel stocks replaced one of the wooden pairs that had rotted. Heritage Lottery Funding provided the money for more recent necessary work, which was more extensive than expected. The cap was removed, its frame strengthened and failed timber replaced. The smock frame, in particular the cant posts, also had to be extensively replaced and strengthened. At the same time the stocks were replaced, so that all were once again wood, and the complete mill was reboarded. The floor was relaid, and it was then that the discovery of the foundations of previous mills, mentioned above, was made. Also uncovered were two halfpenny coins of 1862 showing a youthful Queen Victoria, which had been deliberately placed under a support pillar; they were replaced and a modern ten-penny piece of the year 2000 was added for posterity. A bottle marked 'Lung Tonic' also emerged, evidence of the dusty conditions in which millers toiled. A small museum opened in 2000, displaying artefacts related to the mill and milling. Acknowledgements are due to: Stelling Minnis Parish Council Stelling Minnis Mill by Sylvia McKean.


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25 History of Stocks Mill, Wittersham - Grade II* listed. Stocks Mill is one of two post mills which Kent County Council own, the other being at Chillenden, in the east of the county. Very few surviving mills are of this early type, as many were demolished when they were superseded by the more efficient and sturdier smock mill. There is no definite record of when Stocks Mill was built, but dates carved inside, and public records, provide some clues. On the massive centre post is carved 'R.V. 1781, R.A. 1785, I.E. 1790 and E.G. 1797'; an assumption has been made that the earliest date is that of construction. It has been argued, however, that it stood elsewhere prior to its present location. Old maps provide evidence for the historic location of mills around Wittersham; although a post mill standing to the north of the village is shown on maps from 1736, no mill is depicted on the present site on the county map of 1769. Neither does it appear in either of the antiquarian Hasted's publications, History & Survey of Kent in 1778 and Topographical Survey of Kent in 1801. Not until 1821 is a post mill shown at the present site, on Greenwood's county map. Perhaps the mill had been built some forty years before this date, and had been moved from another location at some time during these years. Alternatively, as was then common, parts from another mill may have been recycled in its construction, including timber carved with dates. There is evidence of an extension to the mill at the rear, which may have taken place if, and when, the mill was moved. This modification was perhaps to create extra space for a sieving machine, used for grading flour. Renovation and improvement to take advantage of developing technology was undertaken regularly in most mills. The mill takes its name from the surrounding area, called The Stocks' on mid-nineteenth century maps, with Stocks Farm next door. The village stocks were supposedly sited here in the days when punishment for minor offences could be very public. The name may derive, however, from the Old English word 'stoc', meaning an outlying dependency of a village. The first miller of Stocks Mill was Thomas Venus, an unusual surname; it is possible that the 'R.V.' carved in 1781 may be a relative of his. Several families owned and worked the mill; other millers leased it from an owner, as was often the case during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The owner during Thomas Venus's tenancy, for example, was Henry Watson. By 1792 Mr Willson was in residence; a copy of his fire insurance policy from an entry in the books of the Royal Exchange Assurance Company details the premiums he paid on the mill, mill house and his personal property. The mill was insured for £250, and 'the utensils and trade therein' for £50, a substantial sum, reflecting the profitability of the business. Numerous millers are recorded in census returns and other documents over the next century, some of whom also worked the other post mill known to have existed in the centre of Wittersham until its demolition in 1922. Richard Parton, a widower with many children, was working both mills in 1838. A grave in Wittersham churchyard may be that of his wife; Mary Parton, 'wife of Richard', is named, who died in 1838 aged thirty seven, leaving ten children. Milling often ran in families and it is likely that the Partons who milled at nearby Woodchurch were relations. Unfortunately, Woodchurch miller John Parton was supposedly beheaded by one of his revolving sweeps around the middle of the century. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, competition from factory-produced flour led to a decline in demand for the mill's flour and milling ceased.


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25 By 1890, the actor Norman Forbes-Robertson owned the mill and the mill house. He wished to see the mill working but could not find a miller to operate it, despite offering a nominal, or even free, rent. The machinery was removed and lattice windows put in, and by 1933, the ground floor was being used as a garden shed and the first floor as a store for fruit and other produce. Forbes-Robertson's young son had previously used this first floor as his den and the room had been made comfortable and snug with lath and plaster to block up the recesses. Unfortunately the movement inherent in the structure of a post mill meant that the plaster did not last very long! By the 1930s, the artist Rudolph H. Sauter, nephew of the author John Galsworthy, owned the mill and used it as a studio. He drew the mill, showing its dilapidated state. Mr Sauter, however, cared for the mill, and initiated repairs. A photograph of 1939 shows the structure and sweeps in good order, although the balcony he added was certainly not a part of the original design! Prior to restoration, owls had been using the third floor, always dark due to lack of windows. Admiral Sir Edward Parry was in residence at the Mill House in 1958 when new sweeps were made and fitted by local inhabitant Mr H Payne, after consultation between Sir Edward and the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. One of the sweep middlings broke in a storm in 1968; this and one pair of sweeps was renewed by millwright Derek Ogden, financed by a fundraising appeal and the Kent County Council. Mr Ogden returned to the mill every year to turn the sweeps through ninety degrees to relieve the strain on them that immobility brought. In 1979 the owners of Mill House gave the mill to Kent County Council, who carried out an extensive renovation programme to restore the mill to its original appearance. The Friends of Stocks Mill was formed by local residents in 1981. Over the last few years, funding from the Heritage Lottery has enabled replacement of the sweeps and a stock, rebuilding the roundhouse brick walling, relaying the timber hollow floor, repairing the external steps and repainting the outside in lead paint. During the summer months, the Friends of Stocks Mill regularly welcome visitors to the oldest of Kent County Council's windmills. Acknowledgements are due to: The Friends of Stocks Mill at Wittersham Owners, Occupiers and Millers from 1781 by Kenneth F. Ascott


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26 History of West Kingsdown Mill - Grade II listed West Kingsdown mill is first shown on a map of 1805 at the other end of the village, to the north west of its present site. It lay just within the parish of Farningham, near Chimham's Farm (now West Kingsdown Farm). The Farningham tithe award schedule of 1840 states that the mill, yard and garden was owned by William and Thomas Kipping, but the miller was George Whiteing. George was married to Sarah and had three children. The mill then passed into Walter Whiteing's hands, probably a relative, before David Norton, a watermill owner from Tovil, bought the lease of the mill from him in 1859. The freehold of the mill, and the property associated with it, was owned by William Campbell from 1842, and the particulars are described in the sale catalogue of the Kingsdown estate in 1869. David Norton was the miller during a period in which the mill was leased 'for a period of three lives', literally meaning three successive holders of the lease, rather than a fixed term of years. At the time of the sale, two 'lives' had been completed and the third, John Foster, who was '67 years or thereabouts' was in place. David paid an annual rent to John of two shillings and five quarters of wheat, or its equivalent, which was settled at twelve pounds. David died in 1870 and his sons John and Tanner continued to work the mill until John Foster died in 1879 and the lease therefore ran out. The terms of the lease stated that upon its expiry, the Norton's had the right to remove the mill unless the landowner wanted to buy it. They very soon dismantled and moved the mill to its present site, where the land was owned by Tanner. He was already working a post mill there, which he had purchased in 1870. Tanner's ten year-old daughter, Minnie Laura, laid the engraved foundation stone at the new mill site in April of 1880. The lettering is now worn and faint, but it is still possible to make out the wording at the base of the mill. Tanner was left with a family of six children to raise when Minnie's mother Mary died in 1885. The cost of dismantling, moving and re-erecting the mill was £800; not a cheap option given that the modern equivalent is approaching £50,000, but less than building from scratch. George Paine was the local engineer contracted to do me work. The post mill and the newly-moved smock mill were worked together, and Tanner renamed his hive of industry 'Speedwell Mills'. The mills were obviously essential to the local community, for in 1887 a steam engine was installed for use when the wind did not provide enough power. In May 1909 a steam driven traction engine, a road roller, was allowed to park overnight in the yard. As the boiler was being lit the next morning a spark set fire to straw in the yard, which in turn ignited the post mill. The ancient timbers burnt rapidly and it was entirely destroyed. The millstones survived the blaze and were incorporated into the floor of the yard; today one still survives, propped against the smock mill by Minnie Laura's foundation stone. Tanner died in 1912, aged seventy, and was buried in the local churchyard. His eldest son, William, became the owner of the-mill, but being already in partnership at nearby Meopham Mill, he leased West Kingsdown mill to his younger brother, Frank Norton. Frank eventually bought it in 1918. Unfortunately, the economic depression following the First World War obliged him to sell up two years later. The new owner was Arthur Cook of Brands Hatch, whose son ran the mill until shortly before his father sold it in 1929. The mill was never to work again.


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26 The beginning of a slow decline began on Christmas Day 1929 when the end of one of the sweeps broke off in a gale. The fantail was blown down the following year. The new owner, Dan Hankin, was from Chimhams Farm, where the mill had started its life. Mr Hankin ended his life living in Mill House with his two daughters, using the land as a smallholding. Constance and Eleanor Hankin sold the property in 1947, four years after his death. The mill fell further into disrepair, and the new owner, Mr Chambers, a nurseryman from Hextable, had plans for removing its superstructure and using the brick base as a foundation for water tanks. Before this happened, however, the property once more changed hands, in 1957, acquired by the Heaton family, who still live and farm there today. Mr Heaton subsequently conveyed the mill to Kent County Council in 1958, who leased it back to him for 999 years. The mill now stands silent. The timber staging which once'existed at first floor level is no longer there and most of the original machinery has been removed except for the millstones. Restoration of the exterior by Kent County Council was completed in 1960 and included replacement weatherboarding to the whole smock. Since then, the Parish Council have funded replacement of the fantail blades. The cap has also been removed for repair and reboarding, and the smock weatherboarding tarred. The sweeps have been removed but the steel stocks remain in place. The mill is on private land and can be visited by arrangement with the owners, Mr and Mrs Heaton. Acknowledgements are due to: Mr and Mrs M. Heaton West Kingsdown. The Story of Three Villages in Kent by Zena Damping


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28 All about mill-stones The main function of the water-driven corn mill is performed at the mill-stones. To do their work, the stones must be of a suitable material and have their working surfaces prepared to deal with the type of grain being ground. The stone spindle had to be connected to drive the upper or ‘runner’ stone, and it was necessary to maintain the correct gap between the working surfaces of the two stones. In addition, provision had to be made to feed the grain to the stones and take away the meal produced. Mill-stones have been made of a variety of substances, and in earlier times from local stone if any was available. Later more suitable stones were adopted in areas remote from the quarries. These included: 1 Quartz stones. The best of these, having a roseate hue, are the French stones, found in the

vicinity of La-Ferté-sous-Jouare and Epemon. Because of the peculiar formation of French Burr it was difficult to get a whole stone of uniform quality throughout, and it was usual to build the mill-stone of selected pieces cemented together with plaster of Paris and bound around the circumference with iron hoops. The stone was then smoothed off with cement on the back and the working face was dressed. These stones were particularly suitable for finer grinding, and in the later days of horizontal stone grinding nearly all flour was produced on such stones.

2 Sandstones. Derbyshire Peak Stone is one example of sandstone. The stone was hewn in one

piece out of a solid block. These sandstones were much softer and less durable than mill-stones of French Burr but produced a meal of particularly soft and pleasant texture and were used mainly for grinding barley and oats.

3 Stones of volcanic origin. The best known of these were quarried in the Andemach and

Koblenz areas of Germany and brought down the Rhine for shipment to this country, where they were known as ‘Dutch blue stones’. These were preferable to the Peak stones but were themselves displaced by the French Burr stones during the nineteenth century.

4 Artificial or composite stones. These were made by reducing French Burr or emery to

particles of 0.3 cm or less in diameter and embedding them in a strong cement. Mixtures of other particles have been used to give a finished stone of a particular hardness to suit the purpose for which it was intended. Besides this control of properties, composite stones had the advantages of being free from the soft spots that sometimes occur in natural stones, and of being self-sharpening owing to the multitude of cutting edges presented by the embedded particles.

These artificial stones were usually made by pouring the liquid composition onto a cast-iron backing plate, provided with undercut grooves to hold the solidified composition securely in place. This backing plate simplified the mounting of the stone on the driving spindle, and enabled it to be removed and replaced more easily than with natural stones. It also stiffened the stone so that it could be used until the composition was almost entirely worn away.


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29 Windmills in the Nord Pas-de-Calais and the Somme

Today there are about twenty windmills in Nord Pas-de-Calais and the Somme that can be visited. At the end of the last century there were probably about 2,000 working windmills in the region. The greatest number are found in Flanders. Special events In France the third Sunday in June is ‘National Windmills Open Day’ with special events at most windmills. Further information ARAM/Nord : Pas-de-Calais (Regional Friends of Windmills Association) rue Albert-Samain 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq Tel: 20.05.49.34

Bethune region Beuvry Beuvry windmill Calais region Coquelles Coquelle windmill

Guemate Pont de Guemste windmill Tel: 21 .82.13.64

Cambrai region Saint-Vaast-en-Cambresis Oil windmill Tel: 20.05.49.34


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29

Dunkirk region Roeschepe Ondankmeulen windmill Tel: 28.42.50.24 Cassel Cassel windmill Tel: 28.42.43.22 Gravelines Lebriez windmill Tel: 28.65.21.28 Hondschoote Nordmeulen windmill Tel: 28.62.53.00 Houtkerque Hofland windmill Tel: 28.40.90.79 Pitgam Den Leeuw windmill Tel: 28.62.10.90 Steenvoorde Noordmeulen and Drievenmeulen windmills Tel: 28.49.77.77 Terdeghem Steen windmill Tel: 28.48.16.10 Watten De Ia Montagne windmill Tel: 21.88.26.04 Wormhout Deschodt windmill Tel: 28.62.81.23

Lille region Helium Hollebeke windmill Tel: 20.23.89.72

Leers Moulin Blanc Tel: 20.75.32.06 Templeuve Vertain windmill Tel: 20.59.31.33 Villeneuve-d’Ascq Oil and flour windmills Tel: 20.05.49.34 Other windmills undergoing restoration are: Saint-Amand-Ies-Eaux Le Blanc windmill Tel: 27.27.85.00 Achicourt Hacart windmill Walincourt-Selvigny Brunet windmill Tel: 27.82.70.37


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30 Further Reading The history of windmills

• Beedell, S. Windmills. Publisher, David & Charles 1975. • Batten, M. I. English Windmills Vol 1, Kent, Surrey and Sussex 1930. • Brown. R .J. Windmills of England. Publisher, Hale 1976. • Coles Finch. Watermills and Windmills. Publisher, Daniel & Co 1933. • Freeze, S. Windmills and Millwrighting. Publisher, David & Charles 1974. • deLittle, R. The Windmill. Publisher, John Baker 1972. • Reynolds, J. Windmills and Watermills. Publisher, Hugh Evelyn 1974. • Shillingford. A.E.P. Vanishing Windmills. Publisher, Cave 1979. • Turpin B & J. Windmills in Kent. Windmill Publications 1979. • Vince. J. Discovering Windmills. Publisher, Shire 1993.* • Vince. J. Windmills & How They Work. Publisher, Sorbus 1993. • Wailes. R. Windmills in England. Publisher, C Skilton. 1948. • Wailes,R . Windmills and Watermills. Publisher ,Ward Stock 1979. • Wailes R. The English Windmill. Publisher, Routledge, & Kegan Paul Ltd 1954. • Watts. M. Water and Wind Power. Publisher, Shire 2000.* • West, J. The Windmills of Kent. Publisher, Charles Skilton 1973.

* In print ands reasonably priced Windmills £5.99 Martin Watts late Spring 2006 ISBN 0 7478 0653 5 (Shire Album 456) 64 pp, 83 colour and 10 b/w ills. Windmills have been in existence for over eight hundred years and, although only a fraction of those that once ground corn, pumped water and provided power for industry and agriculture now survive, they are still a distinctive and often dramatic presence in the British landscape. Among the most important features of these survivors are the variations in design that have come about through their different origins, the use of local materials in their construction, and the influence of millwrights and millers – those who built and worked them – in different parts of the country. Understanding these variations is vital for the protection and maintenance of windmills, the continued survival of which allows a fascinating insight into the historic use of renewable energy, the development of engineering, and the processing of grain for flour and bread, as well as other essential products. Since 1988 Martin Watts has worked as a traditional millwright and consultant, his work covering many aspects of the repair, maintenance, conservation and interpretation of historic mills and their machinery. Water and Wind Power Martin Watts £8.99 ISBN 0 7478 0418 4, 136 pages, 102 ills Shire Publications Watermills and windmills were the first engines. From Roman times water power was used to grind grain and raise water, and later to serve a great number of trades and industries that were vital to the social and economic development of Britain. Wind power was first introduced in


TG

30 the middle ages. This book is concerned not only with technology but also with some of the personalities who were involved. Historically there was a tremendous variety of water and wind powered machinery and, although much has been lost , there are still many examples that provide a fascinating picture of this aspect of Briatin's industrial past. Martin Watts specialises in recording and repairing traditional water and wind powered machinery and also undertaking historical research. Windmills and Watermills (Photographic Memories) Anthony Bryan, Francis Frith ISBN 1859376193, 128 pages The Frith Book Company Ltd, 2004 Featuring around 150 detailed photographs from the Frith archive, this collection provides a comprehensive look at the wind and water mills of England. It includes extended captions to pictures, a full introduction and a voucher for a free mounted print.

Fiction James and The Giant Peach by Roald Dahl Ride the wind with James and his cast of insect friends as they journey across the ocean on a magical giant peach. How do wind currents and weather patterns effect their voyage? What else do they encounter? Night of The Twisters by I. Ruckman Brave the storm with the cast of this exciting novel as they take refuge in the basement as tornadoes rage above. The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame Follow along as Badger, Ratty, Mole, and Toad of Toad Hall meet the adventures of life on the banks of the river where the wind blows gently through the willows. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Who can forget the images of Dorothy's home being swept away by the twister? The wind transports her to a magical land. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle Prepare to be transported on a whirlwind adventure across time. The Windy Day by Pat Huttchins Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia C. McKissack Gilberto and the Wind by Marie Hall Etts The story is of a young boy who befriends the wind, and together they have a lot of fun. But like true friends, they have their ups and downs, but in the end their friendship survives.


TG

31 Websites This list features web sites about windmills, wind power and the weather. The list was compiled in April 2006, when all the links were live! Categories listed here include:

1. Web sites featuring windmills and concerned with their preservation in Britain 2. History of Windmills 3. Wind and the weather web sites 4. Kent Windmills 5. Sussex Windmills 6. Surrey Windmills 7. Essex Windmills 8. London Windmills 9. European Windmills 10. American Windmills 11. Windmills of the world 12. Wind Energy

1. Web sites featuring windmills and concerned with their preservation in Britain

Long list of windmill websites, including international listings http://www.solarnavigator.net/windmill_links.htm A site devoted to all forms of Wind and Water powered machinery in the U.K. http://www.ukmills.com/index.htm English Windmills http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/mills/mills.htm Society for the Preservation of Old Millshttp://www.spoom.org/ Mill Scenes http://www.millscenes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ UKMills.com A site devoted to all forms of Wind and Water powered machinery in the U.K. http://www.ukmills.com/index.htm Mills Archive Trust An educational charity registered in the UK. The Web site and initial catalogue have been developed with financial assistance form the Heritage Lottery Fund. There is an extensive photographic archive that can be searched providing a very fine collection of images of windmills in Kent. http://www.millarchive.com/

2. History of Windmills

http://www.millarchive.com/4schools/history.aspx


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31 history of windmills http://www.windmillworld.com/windmills/history.htm Review of Historical and Modern Utilization of Wind Power Danish web site in English http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/VEA/dannemand.htm Technologies and Their Societies: Historical Perspectives Professor Michael S. Mahoney http://www.princeton.edu/~hos/h398/398extsyl.htm Researching the history of mills http://www.building-history.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Buildings/Mills.htm Botham bakery guide to bread, from seed to sandwich http://www.botham.co.uk/seed/first.htm The story behind a loaf of bread Old and new methods of milling http://www.botham.co.uk/bread/mill1.htm Encarta fee online encyclopedia http://encarta.msn.com/artcenter_/browse.html

William Cubitt (1785-1861) inventor of patent windmill sails and of the prison treadwheel http://www.peter-quita.demon.co.uk/cubitt.htm Engines of our ingenuity. http://www.uh.edu/admin/engines/epi29.htm Searchable image and text database of England's 370,000 Listed Buildings http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/

3. Wind and the weather web sites

Met Office UK http://www.met-office.gov.uk/ Free weather pack from the Met Office http://www.met-office.gov.uk/education/resources/interactive_kit.html BBC weather http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/index.shtml Climate of SE England http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/weather/climlse.asp


TG

31 US national hurricane Centre http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml Met Office UK on hurricanes http://www.met-office.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/hurricanes.html Mount Washington Observatory http://www.mountwashington.org/ Wind Energy Resource Information http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/

US Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy can now be found at http://www.eere.energy.gov/. Two student research projects The Effect of Various Wind Speeds and Blade Factors on Energy Output

http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/AshleighB.html#ExDe The Effects Of Blade Size And Shape On The Electrical Output Of A Generator http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/MikeE.html

4. Kent Windmills

Chillenden windmill on the BBC web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3240320.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3320755.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3585157.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4577153.stm

5. Sussex Windmills

http://www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk/Wind.htm 6. Surrey Windmills http://www.nina.gemineans.co.uk/life/interest/windmills/windmills.html 7. Essex Windmills

http://www.windmillworld.com/uk/essex.htm 8. London Windmills

http://www.windmillworld.com/uk/london.htm 9. European Windmills

Nord Pas-de-Calais and Flanders Like Kent and other cereal-growing regions of the UK, Nord Pas-de-Calais and Flanders once had thousands of traditional mills. http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/mills.htm


TG

31 Mills Museum Villeneuve d'Ascq - near Lille http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/visit/visit-villeneuve-mills.htm Casteel Meulen, Cassel http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/visit/visit-cassel-mill.htm Estaminet "De Vierpot" & Ondank Meulen, Boeschepe http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/visit/visit-boeschepe-estam.htm Hondschoote South east of Dunkirk http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/towns/hondschoote.htm

Other parts of Europe

Danish wind industry association http://www.windpower.org/en/core.htm Danish windmill at Love http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc24645/mill1.htm Windmills of the Netherlands http://members.tripod.com/~KATSPANJE/windmills.html Mill scenes from Holland http://www.millscenes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/netherlands/ Mills in Eastern Germany http://www.muehlen-archiv.de/Muehlen-english.htm Windmills on Mykonos, Greece http://historylink101.net/greece1/pic_windmills-mykonos.htm Spanish windmills http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/mills/spmills.htm

10. American Windmills

A windmills time line USA http://www.newton.mec.edu/Brown/TE/HOT/TIMELINES/WIND/wind_timeline.html Windmills in Texas http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/hiddenhistory/Pages4/windmillsintexas.htm American windmills http://www.windmillersgazette.com/books.html Building a large wooden windmill http://web.ukonline.co.uk/stanley.lawson/wind3.htm Model windmill http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mhc_windmill_pattern_43331_7.pdf


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31 Windmills in the USA http://www.windmillersgazette.com/history.html Wind energy in California http://www.webschool.org.uk/webworld/windcal.htm

11. Windmills of the world

Windmills from around the world – some links http://www.windmillworld.com/

12. Wind Energy

History of wind energy http://www.globalwinds.com/windenergy_history.shtml Understanding wind energy http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/units/energy/windguide.html Wind power http://solstice.crest.org/renewables/re-kiosk/wind/index.shtml History of wind power Very good web site that covers the development of wind power and current issues of debate. http://telosnet.com/wind/early.html BP Carbon calculator http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9005334&contentId=7009881 upper KS2 and beyond

Kent Windmills Ian Coulson

Who worked on the site? 1

It is important not to forget that many people worked at the mill you are visiting. The mills were built and run by people and many individuals spent much of their lives at work in the building. Who were they, how successful were they and what was it like for them working on this site? If at all possible try to put a name and a face to those who worked at the windmill in the past. Have you met someone who can work the windmill and can you find any photographs of people who worked at the mill? Are there any other clues that help you find out about the people who worked at the windmill? Here are some questions you might like to investigate

• Who worked on this site? • How many people worked here? • How long did people work here? • What were working conditions like? • Where did people work in the mill and what did they do? • How comfortable was it working in the mill? • What sort of working day did the have? • How much did the miller earn and was it a profitable business? • How safe was it working in the mill? • What were the most dangerous jobs? • Did millers enjoy their work? • What jobs need to be done at the windmill today?


How does a windmill work? 2

How it works

The parts of the windmill

The grain is placed in the bin

The grain flows down a shute into the centre of the stones

The stones grind the grain and the flour spins out from the edge of the stones

The flour is collected in the meal bin

What to look for… a smock mill 3

What to look for… the outside of a smock mill.

Curved, weatherboarded gables on the cap.

The curb on which the cap rotates

Miekle’s shutters and shutter bars that let the wind spill from the sails.

Kent Windmills

W

Wooden smock

Cubitt’s patent sails matched to the wind

Edmund Lee’s 1745 patent fantail or fly keeps the sails facing the wind.

Ian Coulson

eatherboarding

Cant posts form the frame of the mill

Octagonal brick base

Ke

What to look for… a post mill 4

Eliptical control tshutters sails. Closed iwind , Open in wind.

Diagonalbars

What to look for…the outside of a post mill.

nt Windmills

Sails or sweeps

springs he on the

n normal

strong

Timber framed building balanced on a single post.

Weatherboarding

quarter Oak cross trees

Central post on which the mill revolves

Tail pole used to push the sails into the wind

Ian Coulson


How tall is the windmill? 5

Have you ever wondered how to work out how high a building is without taking a tape measure to the top! You can estimate, fairly accurately the height of a very tall building by using this simple technique. Find a friend who knows how tall they are. Get them to stand at the base of the build whose height you want to estimate. Stand well back from the windmill and work out how many times the height of that person fits into the height of the windmill. You then multiply the height by that number. That calculation will give you a rough estimate of the height of the building. You could try this at school before you visit the windmill.


A quick grind through the history of milling 6

The first recorded windmills were built in Iran in thirteenth century. They looked very different to the windmills we see today. By the end of the 1100s there were records of about 50 mills in England, the earliest was mentioned in 1137. The first mills in this country were post mills. The buck was the main part of the windmill that contained the stones and all the machinery. The buck sat on a post so that it could be turned into the wind. This design can be most clearly seen at Chillenden Mill. Moving the mill so that it was facing the wind was a difficult job. The miller had to furl and unfurl the sails, depending on the strength of the wind, and move the buck, as well as supervising the grinding of the corn, By the thirteenth century a new type of mill was developed with a cap that turned whilst the machinery and the main part of the mill remained still. This is called a smock mill. Where the mill was made of brick or stone it was known as a tower mill. In the eighteenth century several inventions helped make windmills more efficient. The fantail, invented by Edward Lee, helped the cap turn automatically with the wind. The ability to open and close shutters in the sails also helped stop damage in high winds. Inside the windmills the shafts and gearing were always made of wood, until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the first cast iron machinery was produced. A multitude of other inventions helped make the mills more efficient, including, governors to regulate the speed of the millstones, damsels to agitate the chutes and hoists to lift the heavy bags. Many of these small significant inventions can be seen in the Kent windmills. Windmills produced flour and meal by grinding cereal grains. The early mills produced flour for bread but by the middle of the nineteenth century the windmills were not as efficient as the larger steam driven mills. Many of the mills turned from producing flour to animal feed.

Kent Windmills

A Conversation Piece 7

Peter Cobley, an artist, has drawn a picture of what it was like inside Chillenden Mill. Talk with your partner or group about the things you can see in the drawing.

• Do you know how the windmill worked? • If you were working in a windmill do you know what jobs would you do? • What do you think it was it like working in a windmill?

Ian Coulson

Asking Questions 8

Kent Windmills

Chillenden Windmill

Working in pairs take either the phcarefully. 1. What is the name of the mill? 2. Do you know where it is? 3. What does the windmill need to w4. How many people do you think wo5. What jobs do you think people di6. What other questions would you l

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ian Coulson

Chillenden Windmill

otograph or the line drawing. Look at it

ork? rked at the windmill? d at the windmill? ike to ask. …………………………….. …………………………….. …………………………….. …………………………….. ……………………………..

K

Where should I build my windmill? 9

This sketch shows the area where you have decided to build your windmill. The only remaining question is where in this area will be best for the windmill. Using the factors below decide on the best site. Sy

ent Windmills Ian Coulson

ome factors that you might want to consider when deciding on the site for our windmill. You may wish to add some of your own.

Close to a supply of water Near a fuel supply

In a sheltered spot so the wind is not too strong

Close to a road to transport the flour and grain

On a flat piece of ground At the top of hill

Close to farm land Near a quarry for the millstones

K

Sorting Cards (1) 10

Post Mill
Post Mill
Tower Mill

Smock Mill

Smock Mill
Ian Coulson
Smock Mill

Smock Mill

Smock Mill

ent Windmills

Smock Mill


Sorting cards (2) 11

Cranbrook Union Mill

Stelling Minnis

West Kingsdown

Mill

Drapers Mill, Margate

Chillenden Mill

Meopham Mill

Stocks Mill Herne Mill

Match the cards with the photographs of the Kent windmills

Back Panel Heading

Name of the Windmill

The details of the windmill

P ure

Put some more text here

ndmill name

Street Address Address 2

Town Post Code

ict

Your tag line here.

Your names:

Wi

Main Inside

ing Your

number of alternatives ing the content of your ou might choose to h column to a separate me. Remember, these

points should tie in with your introductory text on the first page of the brochure.

An Alternate Approach

On the other hand, you might

chunks. These smaller chunks can be separated by a subheading, like the one that begins this paragraph.

A text box offers a flexible way of displaying text and graphics; it’s basically a container that you can resize and reposition. By linking a text box on one page with a text box on another, your article automatically flows from one page to another.

Caption describing picture or graphic.

Overview Headline

When readersthis is the firstmaking this a your most imp

Make this textinteresting so want to read tbrochure. Be senough to go available. Thethe rest of thetext needs to cover nearly everything in these three panels.

This area can be used to give the reader clear instructions for the next steps that you hope they will take. It may be a number you want them to call, a Web site you want them to visit.

Whatever the case, this information should be clear, brief and engaging enough to motivate the reader.

graphic.

want to organize your information as a continual stream of information broken up into smaller,

open the brochure, text they will see, good place to place ortant text.

compelling and that readers will he rest of the ure to prepare just into the space re is limited space in brochure so your Caption describing picture or

Heading

StructurContent

You have afor organizbrochure. Ydevote eacpoint or the

Kent Windmills

Poetry 13

Pupils who visit a windmill should be encouraged to record their emotional response to the building through a variety of creative approaches, including poetry. The following poems provide work for discussion.

THE WINDMILL Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Behold! a giant am I! Aloft here in my tower, With my granite jaws I devour The maize, and the wheat, and the rye, And grind them into flour. I look down over the farms; In the fields of grain I see The harvest that is to be, And I fling to the air my arms, For I know it is all for me. I hear the sound of flails Far off, from the threshing-floors In barns, with their open doors, And the wind, the wind in my sails, Louder and louder roars. I stand here in my place, With my foot on the rock below, And whichever way it may blow I meet it face to face, As a brave man meets his foe. And while we wrestle and strive My master, the miller, stands And feeds me with his hands; For he knows who makes him thrive, Who makes him lord of lands. On Sundays I take my rest; Church-going bells begin Their low, melodious din; I cross my arms on my breast, And all is peace within.

O Wind, Why Do You Never Rest

Christina Rossetti

O wind, why do you never rest? Wandering, whistling to and fro,

bringing rain out of the west, from the dim north bringing snow?

Who Has Seen The Wind?

Christina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you:

but when the leaves hang trembling the wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I:

but when the trees bow down their heads the wind is passing by.

Ian Coulson

Kent Windmills

Verbs 14

Recording verbs

Ian Coulson

Chillenden Mill


Annotated drawing 15

This framework can be used by copying a picture into the box. Pupils then annotate the image with: technical vocabulary; nouns, adjectives and verbs; materials; questions or whatever issue is being discussed in the context of the image. [Fold this part of the sheet over before copying]

16

Think

See

Hear

Smell

Kent Windmills

Say

Ian Coulson

17

Think

See

Hear

Smell

What would it have been like w

Kent Windmills

Say

orking in this part of the mill?

Ian Coulson

Rebuilding Chillenden Mill 18

Kent Windmills

Illustrated Writing Frame The rebuilding of Chillenden Mill The illustrations on the left provide pupils with a series of prompts to guide them in their writing. The framework provides one activity but it is possible to use other illustrations in this pack to create similar frameworks. Select the title for the account. Resources: The picture of Chillenden Mill. Photocopies of the panel of images. Article about the disaster at Chillenden Mill, 26th November 2003. Additional information: You may wish to add other old photos, prints and maps for use by the pupils. Activity: Start by discussing withthe class or group the picture of the windmill. Develop some ideas for the account. Introduce the panel of illustrations to help structure the writing.

Ian Coulson

Cover this part of the page when photocopying the panel of images


Should we preserve the mills? 19

• What are the main issues? • Is it important to recognise the short term and the long term issues? • What are the solutions? • What do you think are the three most important solutions for ensuring the long term

survival of the mills as a public resource. • Do you think the cost of maintaining the mills is justified?

‘After a career as an architect and town planner in various local authorities, in 1990 I became Kent County Council's Conservation Architect. Amongst other roles, I am now responsible for advice on the care and repair of the sixty or so listed buildings in County ownership. Of these, eight are windmills, three being Grade 1, three Grade II* and two Grade II. It was in 1998 that I entered this world of sprattle beams, cant posts, damsels, sheers, cogs and breast beams, when I was asked, on behalf of the Planning Department, to take over care of the windmills in the Council’s ownership. On taking over, I visited the windmills. All were suffering from varying degrees of structural and/or maintenance problems, as might be expected with structures which are really sensitive machines first and historic buildings second. Indeed mills work for a living and have a limited life expectancy. In 1933, William Coles Finch, in his book, Watermills and Windmills, quotes the life expectancy of a post mill at 200 years and a smock as 100 years – but this assumes the continuous care of an on-site miller. Mills nowadays do not have this luxury and repairs can be piecemeal and fail to address longer-term issues. We cannot therefore treat them as other listed buildings and in fact working mills may require more invasive change than in (for want of a better phrase), the normal listed building. I surveyed each mill and assessed the costs involved for repair and restoration at something under £1 million. Because of the costs involved, it was agreed that a Lottery Bid application should be submitted. The special needs of windmills were recognised in the submission and this approach also fitted the HLF criteria of funding high quality work. Overall the work consisted of sensitive repair to the mill structures and work to improve the potential for tourism and for educational purposes. Another important issue related to the seven volunteer groups who look after the mills for the County Council on a day to day basis and open them to the public. They perform an excellent service and it is obviously necessary to maintain their interest and morale, something which is less easy to do if the mills are not in good shape. There is also a further problem since the numbers of volunteers are dwindling and the existing members are ageing. (I’m sure they


Should we preserve the mills? 19 would not object to me stating the obvious). Without new blood, there is a danger that the mills will not be able to open as at present. This seems to be a difficulty not unique to Kent - maybe a national effort is needed to resolve the problem. The Heritage Lottery bid was for £523,000 with matching funding from KCC and others of £120,000. Included in the bid was a commitment to spend money promoting the windmills for tourist and educational purposes. This included improving facilities for volunteers where possible. The bid was submitted in June 1998. Approval of a grant of £400,000 for work on seven of the eight windmills was given in September 1999. As well as repair work to the mills themselves, the grant covers the production of measured drawings, volunteer training, site work, interpretation, school education packs, leaflets, disabled facilities where practical and professional fees. Of these longer-term items, volunteer training has taken on a wider dimension than originally envisaged due to health and safety issues. Work on Herne, Drapers mill at Margate and Chillenden mill was begun as a first phase. The inevitable lead time before work started was a little frustrating for everyone, particularly the volunteer groups who realised they would have to close the mills during repairs and could lose volunteers as a result. The repairs at Drapers and later at Chillenden illustrated the hidden extras (and additional costs) likely in buildings of this type and caused a halt to some work. At Chillenden we concentrated initially on making the mill body watertight and structurally sound for the winter. Because of the cost increases at Chillenden and Drapers mills, however, a further grant application was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This was a much more straightforward process since it involved topping up an existing approved grant. As a result the total grant was increased by £326,000 to a total of £726,000. A condition of this increase was a commitment from KCC to implement a 10-year programme of planned maintenance involving an estimated annual expenditure of approximately £35,000. There was recognition here that funding capital repairs without considering the costs of longer-term care can easily be a wasted resource. After agreeing with the HLF, we were able to initiate repair work on the remaining mills and complete the work on Chillenden windmill.’ Peter Cobley, Conservation Architect.

What do you think? 20

Kent Windmills

How do you think people felt about one of these in a field near them in 1866?

Would you like one of these in a field near you?

Wind-farm shOpponents dom

Saturday, Mar. 18, 2006

owdown inate first day of hearings
My views
• • • • • • • •

Ian Coulson

Kent Windmills

Windmill Photo Mosaic 21

Materials:

• Postcards, photographs board scissors sand Steps:

1. Cover board with glue or double-faced adhesive sheet. 2. Use one postcard or photograph at a time. Cut them into various small

pieces to use as mosaic tiles (omit any areas of the postcard that you don't like).

3. Space the pieces on the glue or sticky adhesive paper, leaving 5mm spaces between them to simulate grout lines.

4. Cover the eraser end of a pencil with fabric so it won't scratch the cards and use it to gently burnish the tiles in place. Be careful not to touch the exposed adhesive between tiles.

5. Sprinkle sand over the board. Shake the excess onto a newspaper and return to jar for future use.

6. You could coat the entire surface for a more durable finish.

Cranbrook Mill 1925 (photograph from the Here’s History Kent web site: ww.hereshistorykent.org.uk)

Ian Coulson

Kent Windmills

Design a brochure for the windmill 22

You have been asked by the windmill volunteers to produce a brochure for the windmill. The volunteers require a new brochure for young children who are going to visit the mill as part of National Mills week.

• The children will be aged between 7 and 13. • The brochure must be in a gatefold style with six panels for text and

pictures.

• You are free to ad • A template has bee

Ian Coulson

apt the design to suit your audience.

n prepared and is available.

Kent Wind

Design a Safety Poster 23

You have now visited the windmill and will remember things that are important so that people can visit the mill safely. Your task is to design a safety poster that helps young people who will be visiting the site in the future. There aFor exa

• H• S

c• C

mills Ian Coulson

re various discussion points that will arise from this activity. mple: ow should windmills cope with people with disabilities? hould access be stopped because there are steep stairs and cramped onditions in the mills? an you ever have a risk free environment?

Ke

Design a scarf or tie 24

The class has been set a challenge by the trustees of the windmill. Can you design a scarf that reflects the features of the windmill you have just visited? (An alternative to a scarf could be a tea towel or a T shirt.) During the visit you were asked to record the shapes you saw and the features of the windmill. Use your sketch books to select details from different parts of the mill to use in your design. Some groups may wish to select their own object to design. Remember to use the shapes you recorded and the colour notes you made. Start with some ideas on paper and then decide how you will produce your finished article.

nt Windmills

Ian Coulson


Design a visitor’s centre 25

Cross curricular activity The windmill you have visited has just been given a very large grant for a new visitors centre. It is your task to design a building that will be constructed on the site. The aim of this activity is to make pupils aware of the criteria for a successful building. The general principles can be applied to any object that has been designed, so the approach offers transferable ideas and skills. Start with something that the pupils know and understand - an MP3 player. Ask them what makes a well designed MP3 player…

• It is easy to work • It looks cool • You can get lots of tracks on it • It doesn't break easily • It's really small • You can get different colours/fascias

From this list sort the observations into three categories:

• Functionality: the building does its job • Build quality: it is well made • Impact: it looks and feels good You can then transfer the principles over to the built environment and any proposal for a visitors centre. You could use Venn diagram to illustrate how the best buildings will include elements of all three aspects of good design, functionality, quality and impact. To look at all three of these categories decide the class into groups each with a responsibility to look carefully at one category. CABE, the Commission for the Built Environment suggest the following:


Design a visitor’s centre 25 Functionality It's a good design if: • The building is easy to use and is suitable for what it is used for. • The building is easy for everybody to get to and easy to move around in. • The rooms and spaces are the right size and well arranged. Impact It's a good design if: • The building has its own character and personality. It might not necessarily be beautiful but it makes a statement of some sort. • The shape and materials add to the quality of the building. • I like being inside the building. • The building fits in well with the community and surroundings. It does not dominate or conflict with the surroundings but could be in contrast to the surrounding environment. Build Quality It's a good design if: • The right materials were used to make the building. • The building is well made. • The building is environmentally friendly. Is it sustainably designed and maintained? • The building feels healthy and safe. Is the light and air quality good? The sustainability of a building is a factor that should be inherent throughout all three of these qualities. For instance –

Will the building last? Is it made of sustainable materials ' and resources? Will it be energy efficient or ideally carbon neutral? Can the building be easily adapted in the future should its use change? Is the space easily accessible and inclusive in its design?

The pupils should then be set the task of producing a design for the visitors centre. The time taken for this task and the depth of research will depend on the curriculum time available. It may be that the pupils produce an annotated picture, or they may produce a model.


Design a visitor’s centre 25

At the end of the activity the pupils should apply the DQA…

The design quality analyzer !

• Will the building work? (FUNCTIONALITY)

Will it be a good place to work in and visit? • What impact will the building have on the site, the area and the visitors?

(IMPACT) • Is the building a high quality structure? (QUALITY)

For some very good material on design principles see the CABE web site and their education publications. http://www.cabe.org.uk/

http://www.cabe.org.uk/

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Making a 3D model of the area 26

One of the best ways to appreciate the locality is to look carefully at the contour lines. These are often difficult to understand but by making a three D map it is possible to recreate and fully appreciate the lie of the land near the windmill that you will be visiting. There are two ways of producing a map. Firstly you could use corrugated cardboard and cover it with papier mache. The other method is to hot wire cut polystyrene and then paint the layers to produce a model of the locality. To start you need to have a map of the area. Copy the map and cut along the line of a contour to produce a pattern. Or trace the line of a contour and then use the tracing to cut the shape from polystyrene or corrugated card. What you need:

• A base plate for the model • Cardboard or Polystyrene • Paint • Tracing paper • Items for symbols • Newspaper or plaster/filler • Tools and glues

ent Windmills

Ian Coulson


Make your own windpump 27

Wind wheel

Tail vane

Base

• Cut out the base, wind wheel and vane. Fold the card and glue the base together. Make holes in the top of the base, the tail vane and in the centre of the wind wheel. Use a pin or paper clip to attach the three pieces together. Fold the blades of the wind wheel to about 45 degrees. The wind wheel should turn by blowing on the blades.

• Could you improve the design of this model?

Kent Windmills

Making a small windmill 28

Materials a pin a square piece of thick paper or light carda sharpened pencil with an eraser scissors

Procedure

Lay the square of paper flat on a table andcorner to the opposite corner. Mark the clines cross and punch a small hole through each line stopping about an 3cm from the the pin and punch a hole in the top left cortwo holes should be next to each other.) Pcarefully curve it over toward the centre this for the other flaps. When all four flathe paper without letting the flaps unfurl.carefully push the point of the pin into the

Now your pinwheel is complete and ready tpencil point and let it catch the wind. Yourpinwheel only spins when the wind hits its

You now have a simple wind collector. The axis active wind collector. It must be poin

Ian Coulson

(about 220cm x 220cm)

draw a line diagonally from each entre of the square where the two it with the pencil tip. Next, cut along hole in the centre of the square. Take ner of each of the four flaps. (No

ick up a flap at a punched corner and hole, securing it with the pin. Repeat ps are held by the pin, carefully lift Lay the pencil flat on a table and side of the eraser.

o go. Pick up the pinwheel near the students should discover that the centre.

pinwheel is an example of a horizontal-ted into the wind in order to spin.

Kent Windmills

Making an anemometer 28

Materials

• five paper or plastic cups two straight plastic drinking straws a pin scissors paper punch small stapler sharp pencil with an eraser

Making the anemometer

Using the punch make four holes in four of the cups beneath the rim. In the fifth cup, make a hole in thecup, then make four equally spaced holes one centimcup.

Push a drinking straw through the hole in the side ofStaple or tape the straw to the side of the cup. Placone of the four holes in the fifth cup. Push another cup and push one straw inside the other. Repeat this

The cups should then be lined up in the same directiopush a pin through the crossed straws and into the eBe very careful when doing this.

The anemometer will spin whatever the wind directio

Your anemometer will rotates with the wind. Calculatanemometer spins by working out the number of revoMeasure the circumference of the circle made by thyour RPM value by the circumference of the circle, aapproximation of the speed of at which your anemomto note that the speed at which your anemometer spspeed.

Ian Coulson

about on centimetre middle in bottom of the etre beneath the rim of the

each of the four cups. e the cup and straw through straw through a hole in the through the other holes.

n. Where the straws cross raser on top of the pencil.

n.

e the speed at which your lutions per minute (RPM). e anemometer. Multiply nd you will have an eter spins. It is important ins is not the same as wind


Cranbrook Union Mill 30

Kent W

Chillenden Post Mill Line Drawing 31

indmills Ian Coulson

Kent

Chillenden Post Mill Cutaways 32

Windmills Ian Coulson


Early horizontal windmill, Seistan Afghanistan 33


Berney Arms Tower Mill, Norfolk 34


Streamlined wind generator, Orkney Islands 35

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Querns and pestles 36

ent Windmills Ian Coulson

Kent

Anglo Saxon watermill, Ebbsfleet 37

Windmills

The remains of an Anglo-Saxon water mill have been excavated at Ebbsfleet, near Gravesend in Kent, during work on a station for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology found two large timber chutes, which directed water onto the wheel. The mill is thought to date from about 700 AD, making it the earliest horizontal watermill yet found in England. The timbers were lifted out of the ground intact and taken to conservation facilities at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

Ian Coulson

How did they make a loaf of bread? 38

Can you label all the processesin these pictures?

How easy was it making your daily bread in 1750?

Kent Windmills

A real grind 39

What happens when you mix the flour with water?

How can we separate the grain from the husk?

What is produced?

Are you able to produce fine flour?

Using the pestle grind the grain.

Put the grain in the mortar.

Using a magnifying glass what can you see?

Compare the grain with a sample of flour.

Examine your grain.

A Real Grind Using a pestle and mortar grind your own grain. How easy is it to produce good quality flour? What happens the grain when it is ground?

Is this easy to do?

What will be produced if you cookthis?

Ian Coulson

Kent Windmills: A unique community resource · Kent Windmills: A unique community resource ... The...

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