Posted on

Technical descriptions of English windmills

LINCOLNSHIRE – S

SALTFLEET

Tower mill, standing today

TF456936

This mill bears the date 1770 on the third floor(1). Certainly, judging by earlier brickwork which shows traces of bricked up windows and doorways, it is a fairly old one, pre-dating others in the neighbourhood. The red brick tower originally had three storeys but was later raised to four by the addition of a short cylindrical section about 5 feet high. The original walls have a pronounced batter and the two lower floors in particular are very roomy. There is an underground floor and remains of a chimney piece where a previous miller used to live. The 10” diameter pitch pine column on the ground floor, supporting the weight of the floor above, was formerly the mast of a ship.(2) The bulky ogee cap was the largest in Lincolnshire, 18ft in diameter by 13ft 6” high. It was originally hand-winded using a tailpole and winch.(3) The curb was dead with an outside rack and eight centring wheels.

 The mill ended its working life with four single-sided patent sails with canvas shutters, the latter measuring 5ft 6” by 10”. One of these sails, put on by Thompsons, has more weather than the others. The previous sails were of the roller-reefing type. The tapering iron windshaft terminated at the sprattle beam. The brakewheel was large, the segments of the wooden rim being massive and the whole 10ft in diameter. It had eight double arms of iron, between which the cants were attached, and a wood brake. The teeth were iron, bolted on in segments of ten each. Owing to the size of the brakewheel the wallower was mounted low down; it was a heavy 4ft iron mortice (Wailes describes it as “five-morticed”) affair, with an iron friction ring bearing on an iron wheel on the sack hoist spindle. The second floor down, the bin room, was low, with a headroom of only six feet. The third floor down was empty.

 The upright shaft was of iron, circular and 6” in diameter. The all-iron great spur wheel, of the usual Lincolnshire type, was 7ft across. There were three pairs of stones, a 4ft 6” and a 4ft French and one pair of 4ft 8”(4) greys. The stone nuts were iron mortice as was a fourth nut which drove a six-spout dresser on this floor. Latterly a disused all-wood nut, 2ft diameter by 13” deep, stood against the wall. A single pair of governors drove the stones. There was engine drive through external pulley, layshaft and a bevel gear; this proved not to be a success and was eventually abandoned. On the stone floor was a “many-heights”, a stepped block of wood used when raising the stones for dressing.

(1) J W Button 19th March 1942, in HESS

(2) HESS

(3) RW in HESS

(4) J W Button in HESS

SALTFLEETBY ALL SAINTS

Tower mill, gone

This was an old mill which formerly had a wooden windshaft, later changed to iron. The five-storey tower, which had been heightened at some point, was tarred and there were four canvas-shuttered single-sided sails. The windshaft and wallower were iron and the brakewheel had iron teeth bolted on in segments. The wallower had the usual friction ring for the sackhoist. Three pairs of stones, two 4ft French and one 4ft 4” grey, and a dresser were installed. A segment of tooth was removable from the great spur wheel for the stones to be worked by a portable steam engine.(1)

(1) A Mr Wilson to HESS

SAXILBY

Tower mill, standing today

SK892748

Three pairs of stones, two burr and one grey and all 4ft 6” were driven. Latterly the grey was worked by a 30 h.p. diesel engine. The sails were double-sided patents.(1)

(1) HESS

SCAMBLESBY

Tower mill

This was a three-storey mill with four single-sided roller-reefing sails and hand winding gear; a fantail had been fitted at some point but was not a success. The original portable engine was later replaced by a 1 h.p. Foster steam engine, which operated through the usual external pulley.(1)

(1) HESS

SCARTHO

Tower mill, gone

TA267071

The tower was of red brick, with an internal diameter of 11ft at the curb and 21ft at ground level. A stone over the door read “Scartho Mill AD 1869, John Heaton”(1). This presumably indicated the date of construction. The curb was dead with the rack at the side inside. The windshaft was of iron, 7¾” square; the neck journal was outside the cap and was 10” in diameter by 8” long. The iron brakewheel was approximately 7ft diameter with 96 iron segment teeth of 3” pitch, 4¾” face and 2” deep, and was in 2 halves diametrically. The wallower (44 teeth), brake and brake lever were also iron. There was the usual friction ring, here bearing on an iron wheel, beneath the wallower for the sack hoist. The upright shaft was wood, 23” square, the great spur wheel iron with 108 teeth. On the first floor were four pairs of overdriven stones of 4ft diameter and an oat crusher. The stone nuts were iron mortice, two having 22 teeth and two 21. Two pairs of stones were peaks and two French. The governor was driven by belt from the base of the upright shaft. There was a sifter on the ground floor and a smutter on the third. Latterly auxiliary power was in the form of an electric motor under the ground floor. The mill had electric light and water laid on. Thompsons fitted a new weather beam and fantail in 1928.(2)

(1) RW 1928

(2) Ibid

SCAWBY

Tower mill

Standing today, tower only

SE972058

The red brick tower had been heightened from three floors to five, the new section being vertical(1).

(1) HESS

SCOPWICK

Tower mill

Standing today, tower only

TF058576

The red brick tower had six floors and there was an 1827 datestone, with another on the nearby steam mill inscribed “WP 1842”. There were four double-shuttered sails and six pairs of 4ft 6” stones, three of which were driven by wind and three by steam.  Two of the steam stones were for flour and the third for grist. (Presumably all were in the actual steam mill building and not in the windmill). The engine was a 20 h.p. horizontal affair with a 15ft flywheel.(1)

(1) HESS

SCOTTER

Post mill, gone

This was a large open trestle mill with three floors to the body. She was painted white except for the years 1914-16 when she was tarred. She is said to have been 250 years old.(1) Rex Wailes was sent a postcard which showed that there were three crosstrees and six quarterbars and that the body had been extended at the tail to enclose the platform at the top of the ladder. The mill had shutters rather than windows.(2) There were two common and two spring(3) sails on a wooden windshaft, driving one pair of French and one of grey stones arranged head-and-tail.(4) Wailes says that the mill had “a French stone bearing”(5). 

(1) HESS

(2) RW July 1962

(3) RW in HESS

(4) HESS

(5) RW 1953

SCOTTER

Tower mill

Standing today, tower only

SE883005

The tower had five floors and there were four double-shuttered patent sails working two pairs of grey and one pair of French stones. As at Grimoldby, Frisby and one pair at Halton Holegate the striking gear was “bull-nose”, i.e. the shutters struck downwards.(1)

(1) HESS

SCREMBY, Grebby Mill   

Tower mill, standing today (tower only, house-converted)

TF438684

The tower was cement-faced as far up as the first floor, above which was a small stone tablet with the inscription “IE 1812”, the E standing for a Mr East who was the original owner and builder of the mill. On the stairs leading to the first floor the name E Dobson was painted in large black letters. The floor was supported by a heavy tapering iron post. The second floor down contained the bins.

 The fan drive to the curb involved seven bevel gears(1). There were ten centring wheels. The last sails were 32 feet 9in long and the rotation between the stones was 12 and a half inches, compared with 9 and a half inches at Welton mill. The iron windshaft was square and tapered and the 8ft 6” diameter brakewheel had eight iron arms and a wood rim to which iron teeth were bolted in segments. The brake was iron, as was the wallower, the latter having a wooden friction ring on its underside bearing on a 2ft 6in wood drum on the sack hoist spindle. The wooden upright shaft was 14” square and the great spur wheel all-iron, 5ft 6” in diameter, with six arms and 65 teeth(2). The stone nuts were iron mortice, and the quants 3” square. On the third floor were two pairs of 4ft 6in burr stones and one of 4ft 6in peaks. A fourth nut on a wooden auxiliary shaft of four and a half inches diameter drove a dresser on the ground floor via a downturned 2ft wooden spur gear. The governors were mounted on the stone spindles.(3)

(1) HRH in HESS

(2) RW 1953

(3) HESS

SIBSEY, Trader Mill

Tower mill, standing today

TF344510

A late-built mill, replacing in 1877 a post mill of which photographs survive, Trader Mill is considered to be one of the best surviving examples of the English windmill at the peak of its technical development; last worked in 1955, it was acquired in 1970 by the Department of the Environment, now English Heritage, under whom a restoration to full working order was carried out in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is certainly a very fine mill and in my view is the best proportioned, and thus most aesthetically attractive, windmill in the country. A Grade I Listed Building, it is still owned by English Heritage but managed by an independent group with links to the Traditional Corn Millers’ Guild.

 The mill is 74 feet high – dominating the flat landscape around it – with six floors, a stage being provided at third (stone) floor level. The stage is a very elegant one of wrought iron ornately designed, and is a distinctive feature of the mill; it is characteristic of the work of Saundersons of Louth, the millwrights. The ogee cap and lofty fantail are typical of the region. The curb is dead, with the rack on the side inside(1). Six double-shuttered patent sails, struck by rocking lever, are mounted on a square iron windshaft which carries an all-iron brakewheel, with teeth cast in segments(2), operated on by an iron brake band and lever. Seven centering wheels are provided: one each at the aft end of each sheer, one on each sheer where the sprattle beam meets it, one each at the fore end of each sheer, and one on a short longitudinal member connecting the lateral timber in front of the brakewheel to the breast beam.

 The neck journal of the windshaft is outside the cap. The shaft has grooves in it at the tail bearing which carry grease for lubrication.(3)

DUST FLOOR

This is very low underneath the cap. Access to it is at present denied, but looking up into it from the bin floor or the ladder it is possible to make out the salient features. The stairwell is on the southwest side. A friction ring on the bevelled iron wallower drives a sack hoist on the west side, positioned at a forty-five degree angle. The hoist takes the form of a large 8-armed iron pulley on a square iron spindle carrying at its other end a solid iron disc flanged for the sack chain, and is mounted in a wooden support frame as usual but with the hinged timber that receives the bearing of the spindle being adjusted by an iron lever. The upright shaft is of iron, like most of the other machinery in the mill.

BIN FLOOR

There are windows on the west and east sides. The stairwell is on the southeast and the ladder to the dust floor on the same side just to the northeast of it. The south-western quarter of the floor is mostly taken up by the bins. On the northern side is a spare stone casing and on the south a raised sack trap.

FLOOR BELOW BIN FLOOR

There are windows on the west and east sides. The stairwell and ladder to the bin floor are on the southeast side. Again the south-western quarter is taken up by bins with a raised sack trap on the south side.

STONE FLOOR

Windows are provided on the east and west sides, and doors open onto the stage on the north and south. The stairwell is on the southeast side just to the right of the southern door, with the ladder to the floor above northeast of it. The upright shaft terminates in the floor with a wooden shoe protecting the bearing; it tapers below the 8-armed all-iron great spur wheel, which overdrives three pairs of stones on the northeast, northwest and southwest sides through large iron mortice stone nuts on cylindrical quants. Some of the supports for the horses are of iron.

SPOUT FLOOR

There are windows on the east and west sides. The ladder to the stone floor is on the east side, the stairwell on the southeast. The main ceiling beams run east-west. A wooden vertical support column which begins on the ground floor supports the main lateral beam in the ceiling at mid-point. Three long spouts terminate against it two-thirds of the way down, and the governor, which controls all three pairs of stones, is mounted on an ornate iron bracket which is fixed to it. The iron bridgetrees run north-south, with the northwest and northeast ones parallel to each other. The northwest and southwest bridgetrees are in a line. The steelyard bifurcates to pass round the support column and each steelyard then runs south, curving upwards at the other end to meet the main ceiling beam on that side in which it is hinged.  Connecting bars run from the northwest and southwest bridgetrees to the western steelyard, and from the northeast bridgetree to the eastern steelyard. The governor is driven by belt from the base of the upright shaft. The extension to the spindle of one of the stones appears to be missing.

GROUND FLOOR

The entrance door is on the east side and there are windows to the north and south. The stairwell is on the east side. In the centre of the floor is the wooden support column for the ceiling and for that of the floor above.

 Rex Wailes measured the diameter of the tower as 23ft at the base and 11ft 6in at the curb. The brakewheel was 7ft in diameter and the windshaft 10ft long and 12in in diameter.(4)  

Based on survey carried out by Guy Blythman 13th September 2008

(1) RW 5/9/1928, in HESS

(2) Ibid

(3) Ibid

(4) Ibid

SIBSEY, Rhoades’ Mill

Tower mill

Standing today, tower only

TF352514

This mill had roller reefing sails at one time. The windshaft and brakewheel were wood.(1)

(1) HESS

NORTH SOMERCOTES

Tower mill, gone

TF416965

This was a red brick mill with four storeys. Nicely carved on beams on the stone floor and ground floor respectively were “G Hall 1878” and “G Hall – S Squire, 18-78”, and a pencilled inscription inside the cap read “This mill was painted and tarred July 1913. New neck brass.” The curb was live. There were four sails; from the last surviving one it seems they were clockwise and single-sided with canvas shutters. An 8ft 6” clasp-arm wood brakewheel, with iron teeth bolted on in segments of twelve, was mounted on a 9” square iron windshaft. The iron wallower had a wood friction ring for the sack hoist drum, also iron. The upright shaft was in two sections, the upper one being of wood and 6” square, though rounded at the top in a manner similar to the centre post of a post mill, and the lower one circular and iron, tapering from 4½” to 3” (elsewhere Simmons appears to say the shaft is iron and 6” square). The great spur wheel had eight arms and was 6ft in diameter with a wooden rim and iron teeth let into it in segments of ten. Three pairs of 4ft 2” stones and a dresser were driven. There were a single pair of governors on the ground floor.(1)

(1) HESS

NORTH SOMERCOTES, Cartwright’s Mill

Tower mill

The tarred tower had been heightened from three to five floors, the added section being cylindrical. There were six double-shuttered patent sails.(1)

(1) HESS

SPALDING, Armstrong’s Mill

Smock mill, gone

This was a tarred mill with an ogee cap, four single-sided patent sails and a fantail. It had been converted from a drainage mill. The machinery was wooden although the windshaft had an iron poll end(1). Two pairs of grey stones and one pair of French were underdriven(2).

(1) H Cobbin 1946, in HESS; a Mr Rhodes to HESS

(2) H Cobbin 1946, in HESS

SPALDING, Little London

Tower mill, gone

TF234211

The tarred tower had five floors. The rack was on top and there were three centring wheels each side plus one at the head and one at the tail. The brakewheel was a wooden clasp-arm 9ft in diameter with iron teeth and segments and a set of strengthening arms going from the wooden segment of the rim to the central casting, which was 14” square in a 2ft 6” centre piece. It was further strengthened by four iron rods bolted to the rear of the rim and going to a ring bolted onto the windshaft towards the tail. The shaft was iron, with chamfered corners, and 9” in diameter at the neck, widening to 10½” square at the brakewheel and for some distance behind it before tapering to 7” at the tail. The brake is iron. The sack hoist, located on the north side and friction-driven from the wallower as usual, was in the form of a 2ft by four and a half inch drum on a 7” wooden bollard. The upright shaft was of iron and 5” square narrowing to 4½” on the stone floor. The first and second floors down were meal chambers while the third was empty. On the stone floor, which is supported by timbers measuring 29” by 5”, were three pairs of stones positioned on the north, south and east sides. The northern and southern pairs were peaks, the former 4ft 2” and the latter 4ft 6”, and the eastern 4ft 2” burrs. The mill was a narrow one and the stones occupied most of the floor space.(1) Two of the shoes had an adjustment cord running through the floor(2). The stone nuts were iron mortice. The southern nut was 19” diameter on a 2¾” square quant, the eastern and northern ones were also 16″ and the quants were of the same dimension as the southern. The eastern quant was round, the northern square. The all-iron great spur wheel was 6ft in diameter and in one casting. A 14” by 1½” iron nut on the upright shaft at floor level meshed with a second, 6” nut on the spindle of the governors, which were mounted under the ceiling of the floor below on a semicircular iron bracket. The bridgetrees were of iron and L-shaped, the longer sections pivoted to the ceiling and resting on 4ft wooden brayers with hand screws.(3) There was at one time and engine drive, but the engine was later separated from the mill(4).

(1) HESS 13th September 1946

(2) HRH in HESS

(3) HESS

(4) HRH in HESS

SPALDING, Spalding Common Mill

Tower mill, stump remains

TF234201

The brickwork was cement-faced. The curb was dead. Four single-sided sails with canvas shutters were mounted on a seven and a half inch diameter iron windshaft; each arm of the cross was 4ft 6” long. The brakewheel was wooden with iron segment teeth. The rim was 11” wide, the arms 12” by 4” long with a 15” wide central opening. The upright shaft was in two sections, the upper being of wood 15” square and the lower iron and circular, measuring 6” in diameter with a 15” by 14½” deep casting for the great spur wheel mounting, below which it tapered from 5½” to 3” at the brass. The great spur wheel was wooden with iron segmented teeth and the stone nuts iron mortice. There were three pairs of stones, one 4ft 6” grey and two French measuring 4ft and 4ft 6”, and a dresser. The single governor was located on the north side of the upright shaft and belt-driven from it.(1)

(1) HESS 13th September 1946

SPALDING, Lock Mill

Smock mill

This was a very small mill with the great spur wheel on the ground floor. The stones were underdriven. There were four patent sails and a fantail.(1)

(1) TMS September 1940

STALLINGBOROUGH

Tower mill

Standing today (tower only, house-converted)

TA181106

The red brick tower was steeply battered. The curb was too small for the brickwork, which was corbelled inwards instead of outwards, and as might be expected the curb distorted. There were four patent sails and the usual ogee cap and fantail were fitted.(1)

 Although the mill remained in use into the 1950s, there is disappointingly almost no technical information on it. It is now a house.

(1) HESS

STICKFORD

Tower mill, standing today

TF346589

One of the smaller type of Lincolnshire tower mill, this specimen provides a useful contrast to the giants at Alford, Boston, Heckington, Waltham and Sibsey. The tarred red brick tower has three storeys, the bin and dust floors and the ground and spout floors being combined. There is a datestone on the outside of the tower with the inscription “R Kyme 1820”, now partly illegible. The usual Lincolnshire ogee cap, here rather bulbous with a tall finial, was fitted. Along with four single-sided patent sails, canvas-shuttered, and an eight-bladed fantail, the drive to the curb from which passed through the storm door in the rear of the cap. The mill worked until 1952, latterly in a very bad state of repair and only operable when the wind was blowing from a certain direction because the fantail was out of action. The latter’s gearing along with other assorted items is currently stored on the ground floor.

 Unfortunately in the late 1960s the cap roof was dismantled and the windshaft removed and taken to Morcott windmill in Rutland, which was being restored as a house conversion. It got broken in transit and its current whereabouts are unknown. Stickford mill then stood derelict until a few years ago when work was carried out to conserve it, new doors and windows being installed and a conical aluminium roof constructed over the original cap frame. Much debris remains inside and the floors are unsafe in places, making a full exploration of the interior difficult, but although plenty of work is still to be done the small size and compactness of the mill makes it a good candidate for restoration.  

 Nearby, identified by the chimney from its oven, stands the small bakery which was associated with the mill. An engine worked machinery within a separate building(1) and also apparently that of the windmill when required, an old photograph showing the drive pulley on the wall of the tower(2). 

 The brakewheel was a wood clasp-arm with iron cog ring bolted on and a wooden brake.

 Five truck wheels can be made out, one on a projecting timber at the head, two near the front ends of the sheers and two further back where the sprattle beam meets them. At least one of the wheels is solid. It appears that as elsewhere in this part of Lincolnshire the wheels are interconnected by lateral and longitudinal iron rods. The curb is dead.

DUST/BIN FLOOR

During the mill’s life this was only a part floor, according to Ronald Hawksley. There are windows on the east and west sides. The floor is timber-lined to about half-height and above that is partly plastered; some remains of this plastering may still be seen. The bins have gone. The upright shaft is tapered and for about half is height on this floor is encased within a conical wooden sheath. 

 The wallower remains but is coming adrift from its mounting on the upright shaft. It is an iron mortice affair with eight arms radiating from a square central boss, and a segmented wood friction ring bolted on to drive the sack hoist. The latter is now missing, though it is possibly among the heap of bric-a-brac on the ground floor; a wooden framework which may have acted as support for it indicates its former position.

STONE FLOOR

Shelves were provided here for storing sacks on, according to Rex Wailes. There are two windows to the northeast and southwest.

 Two pairs of stones, one French and one grey, are overdriven from an 8-armed all-iron great spur wheel through iron mortice stone nuts on long quants. The south-eastern pair retains its tun and other furniture, the western does not. On the northeast side a third iron mortice nut, its cogs now missing, drove a dresser on the ground floor via an iron secondary upright shaft. The latter is in two sections and the main one with the nut lies on this floor having been removed at the coupling.

GROUND/SPOUT FLOOR

There are doors on the northwest and southeast sides and a single window on the west.  A wooden column supported the bridge tree of the upright shaft with the spout from the south-eastern stones abutting against it.

 The bridgetrees are of iron and the usual Lincolnshire dog-leg type. The single governor, located on the west side of the floor, is driven by a belt, still in place, from a large four-armed pulley on the foot of the upright shaft. Usual practice was for the belt to be from a small flange on the shaft, with the governor in close proximity to it or mounted on its own auxiliary upright shaft further away.

 The main steelyard goes to the post supporting the bridge tree, in which it pivoted on a small circular hinge, with a link near the governor end from where the subsidiary steelyards ran in  straight lines to links on the northwestern and southeastern bridge trees. Rods and screws for hand tentering are provided. 

 On the eastern side the auxiliary upright shaft terminates in a four-armed iron mortice bevel gear from which a dresser, now missing, was driven(3). Above it on the shaft is a smaller diameter, all-iron bevel gear driving an unidentified apparatus suspended from the ceiling to the right. Looking down on it from the stone floor, this appears to have beaters like a mixer or stirring device. A metal spout from it on the ground floor is badly rusted. The dresser was probably also ceiling-mounted. The final drives to these machines are no longer in situ but may be among the assortment of miscellaneous items stored on the ground floor. The auxiliary upright shaft is footed in an iron girder off the eastern of the two main beams in the ceiling and supported at the other end by a hanger depending from a joist.

Based on survey carried out 13th May 2017. Many thanks to mill owner Ray Wenden for allowing access.

(1) R Wenden, 13th May 2017

(2) James Waterfield, Windmill Hoppers website, May 2017

(3) Ditto

STICKNEY

Tower mill

Standing today, tower only

TF345569

The tarred tower had five floors and bore a tablet with the inscription “WB 1842”. There were four single-sided patent sails.(1) The fanstage was of curious design for Lincolnshire, with the uprights supporting the diagonals at mid-point of the latter. The brakewheel was wooden with an iron brake and cog ring. The wallower (including the friction ring for the sack hoist), sack hoist spindle, upright shaft and great spur wheel were all iron. On the stone floor were three pairs of stones, two peaks and one burr, with iron bridgetrees and brayers. The governors were belt-driven from the base of the upright shaft. There was a flour machine on the ground floor, along with an extra pair of stones driven by oil engine, and an auxiliary upright shaft drove a mixer on the stone floor. The brakewheel had 110 teeth, the wallower 52, the great spur wheel 121 and the stone nuts 16 each.(2) 

(1) HESS

(2) HRH in HESS

STURTON BY STOW   

Tower mill, standing today (tower only, with replica cap)

SK881804

The mill was built in 1815(1). The cap had a double layer of vertical boarding. Hawksley tells us “There are beams just below the cap with a framework of spaced timbers in places serving as a platform, which there are also in cap; one horizontal timber in cap has cracked so another has been put for some way beside it. Above the stones is a platform on a copper frame.” The drive from the fantail to the curb was in six stages. The upright shaft was of wood and iron and all the other machinery was iron including the brake and brake lever. The brakewheel had 88 teeth, the wallower 22, the great spur wheel 96 and the stone nuts 20 each. There appear from Hawksley’s notes to have been two pairs of stones, one peak and one burr, both controlled by a single governor. The burrs had a wooden bridgetree and brayer, the peaks a single iron tentering bar.(2) There were four levelling screws with wooden pads placed under the peak bedstone, a feature not seen elsewhere(3). There were two auxiliary upright shafts, one for the drive from a Ruston Hornsby oil engine and the other a Climax grinding mill(4). The means of disengaging the engine drive from the great spur wheel was interesting. The nut was held by a collar which ran on a square thread cut on the layshaft. Rotation of the nut was prevented by a key and keyway.(5)

(1) HRH in HESS

(2) Ibid

(3) RW in HESS

(4) HRH in HESS

(5) P Baker in HESS 8th April 1959

SURFLEET

Post mill, gone

This was a tarred mill winded by a tailpole with windlass and having a roundhouse. The sails, two commons and two canvas-shuttered springs, were clockwise. There was a bulge at the side of the buck to accommodate the auxiliary machinery or its drive.(1)

(1) HESS

SUTTERTON

Tower mill, standing today

TF273359

This was a red brick mill with four double-shuttered sails and fantail. The curb was dead with the rack on the side inside. There were three centring wheels at each side and one at the tail. The iron windshaft was 8” round from the cross to the brakewheel, where it was 9½” square, then round again and tapering to 6½” at the tail. The all-iron brakewheel was 7ft diameter with eight arms and an 8” rim having iron teeth bolted on in segments. It bore the cast inscription “Tuxford and Sons, Boston”. The brake was wooden.  The 4ft 6” all-iron wallower is positioned 1ft 9” above the floor. The iron(1) sack hoist was friction-driven from the usual wooden ring beneath it. The iron upright shaft was six and a half inches square at the wallower and 6½” round on the floor below (Simmons presumably means the dust floor). The second floor down was a meal room and here the shaft was square again for twelve inches before becoming circular. On the third floor it bore the same inscription as the brakewheel. The all-iron great spur wheel had eight arms and was keyed to the upright shaft which was square at the mounting, its dimensions changing again below to octagonal (for the next eighteen inches) and then finally round and 5” diameter. There were three pairs of stones; a fourth nut and quant formerly drove a dresser, in whose place a mixer had been installed by the time of Simmons’ visit. Latterly a second mixer and an additional pair of stones on the ground floor were driven by oil engine.(2) One pair of stones had a wooden bridgetree. An iron pillar on the ground floor gave additional support to the upright shaft.(3)

(1) HRH in HESS

(2) HESS 19th September 1946

(3) HRH in HESS

SUTTON-ON-SEA, Sutton Ings

Tower windpump, standing today

TF503807

This is a small red brick structure roughly 12 feet high by 10 feet broad at the base and tapering sharply to about 5 feet diameter at the top, with a wooden curb across which lie two wooden beams protruding at the back to form the base of the staging which carries the remains of a plain wooden windvane. There is no cap, but an iron crankshaft extends back to the curb. The method of fixing the sails is not apparent. The brickwork of the tower extends well below ground level. The internal mechanism comprises an iron upright shaft about 2” diameter worked by a wheel 18” by 3” on the crankshaft which operates a pump inside a 12” inch pipe submerged in the water below. This pipe is held in position by two 7” square wooden crossbeams at ground level.(1)

(1) HESS

SUTTON ST JAMES

Tower mill, gone

TF389191

The tower had three floors. Most of the machinery survived until the 1980s when the mill was demolished.(1)

(1) HESS

SWABY

Tower mill

Standing today, tower only

TF380769

The tower was of tarred red brick with four floors. The mill was an old one with the cap winded by hand. There were two single- and two double-sided clockwise sails with canvas shutters, mounted on a wooden windshaft. Three pairs of stones, two greys and one French, and a dresser were driven.(1)

(1) HESS, RW in HESS

SWINESHEAD, Abbey Road, Houlder’s Mill

Tower mill, gone

TF240404

The six-storey tower had been heightened by 8-10 feet(1). The fantail was of the ordinary Lincolnshire type. The wallower and upright shaft were iron, the brakewheel and great spur wheel wood with iron cogs. The stone nuts were iron mortice. On the first floor were two pairs of peak and one of burr stones. On the ground floor was a single huge pair of governors positioned just above floor level. The sack hoist could be worked by a countershaft and chain from the 16 h.p. Hornsby(2) oil engine which replaced a beam engine in 1904. The steam engine had two furnaces burning a mixture of slack and sawdust, and it took twelve hours to raise steam. The main drive was to a gearwheel at the bottom of the upright shaft, which extended down into a shallow basement with only 4ft headroom. At this point the shaft also carried a gearwheel which drove a chaff cutter. A wind-powered auxiliary upright shaft drove a vertical smutter on the first floor and a flour machine with worm screw conveyor. There was at one time a sifter.(3) According to Mr Houlder the peak stones measured 4ft 6in diameter and the burrs 4ft.

(1) Mr Houlder, former miller, in HESS

(2) Mr Houlder in HESS

(3) HRH in HESS

SWINESHEAD, North End

Tower mill, standing today

TF229415

This is a small mill with three floors, the bin and dust floor being combined and very shallow. There were three centring wheels each side, one at the head and one at the tail. The sails were single-shuttered and mounted on an iron windshaft which was 8” round at the neck journal, square at the brakewheel, then round and tapering to 6½” at the tail with 1¾” ribs on it. There was a 2ft 3” square iron casting for the brake wheel. The 3ft 6” wallower was all-iron and mounted on a wooden upright shaft with chamfered corners. The shaft was 14½” square at the top and 15” square at the bottom. The sack hoist, located on the north side, was in the form of a 2ft by 5” wood drum on a 6” bollard driven from the usual wood friction ring on the underside of the wallower. The all-wood great spur wheel was 7ft 6” diameter with doubled clasp arms. There was an iron collar on the upright shaft just above it. The 21” diameter iron mortice stone nuts were on 2¾” square quants. Two pairs of stones were located on the north and south sides respectively. The south stones were 4ft 4” French, the north 4ft 6” peaks. The governors for one pair of stones were mounted on a bracket on the north wall. Simmons states “the brasses for both stone spindles were on 9” by 10” timbers in suspended beams with slots for tentering”. A third nut and quant on the north side of the great spur wheel drove a dresser, probably mounted beneath the ground floor ceiling, through a 2ft iron mortice bevel gear in that position.(1)

(1) HESS 12th September 1946

SWINSTEAD

Post mill, gone

The mill carried four common sails and had a wooden noddle {poll end}(1).

(1) TMS in HESS, September 1940