Buxhall Mill is a tower mill at

Buxhall Buxhall is a village and a civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The nearest town is Stowmarket. It is home to a public house, St Mary's Church, Buxhall Windmill, and a village recreation ground with childre ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which has been converted to residential accommodation.

History

There have been three windmills on this site. The first mill was a

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

. It was marked on Joseph Hodgkinson's map of 1783 and described as "newly erected" in a newspaper report of it burning down as the result of suspected

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

on 9 July 1814.''Colchester Gazette'', 16 July 1814 (Wailes p194-95) The second mill was a smock mill. It was built by Samuel Wright,

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

Needham Market Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts, was named after Needham Market. History It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. ...

. The account for building the mill reads as follows: Notes In the 1850s, a steam mill was erected close to the smock mill. It was powered by a

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...

and drove two pairs of

millstones Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

. a third pair was added at a later date, along with other machines for cleaning grain and dressing flour. This proved to be too much for the beam engine with the result that the beam broke and the engine was wrecked. The mill was worked by the Clover family until 1860 when it was dismantled. The machinery, cap and sails from the smock mill were incorporated into the new tower mill. Work started on 8 May 1860 and was completed in February 1861. Buxhall Mill was built by William Bear, the

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

at a cost of £506 6s 9d. The lower three storeys formed the base of a smock mill which stood on the site previously. The mill was worked by wind until November 1929 when the sails were damaged in a storm. The swing-pot neck bearing was removed and sold to John Bryant of Pakenham mill. It was eventually installed in that mill in 1950 by Amos Clarke, the

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

millwright. In the 1940s Buxhall mill was stripped of its millstones and refitted as an engine driven mill, in which form it worked until 1971. The mill had lost its cap by 1971, with the cap frame remaining on the top of the tower.

Description

Tower

The tower of Buxhall Mill is three storeys, built on a three-storey base of a smock mill. It is diameter at curb level. There was a stage at second-floor level.

Cap, sails and fantail

Buxhall Mill had a domed cap with a gallery. It was diameter and high internally. The four ''patent sails'' had eleven bays of three shutters, and spanned . They were carried on stocks of long, square at the poll end. The sails were long and long. They were fitted with Catchpole's Air Brakes. These provided extra power in light winds, but acted as an effective air brake in strong winds. The ''windshaft'' weighed 38 cwt (1,930 kg) and cost £38. 0. 0. new in 1860. The cap was winded by an eight bladed ''fantail''. An unusual feature of this mill was the cast iron gutter around the curb, which collected rainwater from the cap and delivered it to the ground via a downpipe on the outside of the mill.

Machinery

The mill drove four pairs of ''

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

s'', a fifth pair being described as "of small size". The ''upright shaft'' was in two sections. It carried a cast iron ''great spur wheel'' with 96 cogs. The spur wheel weighed 2 tons 13 cwt (2,693 kg) and cost £32. 0 .0 new in 1860.

Millers

*Isaac Clover 1815–1844 (smock mill) *Clover 1860– (tower mill) *Clover *J A Clover –1971 References for above:-

References

External links

Windmill World
webpage on Buxhall Mill. {{Windmills in England Windmills in Suffolk Smock mills in England Tower mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1815 Windmills completed in 1860 Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Mid Suffolk District Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom Grade II listed buildings in Suffolk