Barnet Gate Mill or Arkley Windmill is a grade II* listed

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

Barnet Gate Barnet Gate is a hamlet on the northern edge of the London Borough of Barnet to the west of Arkley, in England. There was a settlement there during the Roman occupation of Britain and in the Anglo-Saxon period it was known as ''Grendeles Gatan'' ...

in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest London borough ...

, originally in Hertfordshire. There is no public access.

History

Barnet Gate Mill was probably built between 1822 and 1840. A claim that it was built during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

(c.1800) has not been substantiated. Although steam had been added in 1895, it was working by wind until 1916. The mill was restored in 1930. A new cap,

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as " ...

and gallery around the cap being made. The work was done by Thomas Hunt, the

Soham Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census. History Archaeology The region between De ...

millwright. In a further restoration in 1985, the missing pair of sails was replaced.

Description

Barnet Gate Mill is a four-storey tower mill with an ogee cap which has a gallery. It has two Patent sails and two Common sails carried on a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

windshaft. The cap is winded by a fantail.

Machinery

The mill may have started life with two Common sails and two Spring sails carried on a wooden windshaft as the wooden clasp arm Brake Wheel has had to be fitted with packing pieces to enable it to fit the current windshaft, which being of iron is a smaller diameter than a wooden one would be. The Wallower is of cast iron, carried on a wooden upright shaft. This carries the Great Spur Wheel, which is of iron with wooden cogs and drove the two pairs of millstones underdrift. A third pair was added when steam power was installed. Only one pair of millstones remains today.

Millers

*John Whitehead 1843–1851 *Frederick Edwards 1870–1899 *Noah Edwards 1896–1918

References

External links

Windmill World
webpage on Barnet Gate mill {{Windmills in England Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1823 Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Barnet Windmills in London Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Barnet Arkley Towers completed in 1823