Gainsford End Mill is a

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

tower mill at

Gainsford End Gainsford End is a hamlet in the civil parish of Toppesfield, and the Braintree district of Essex, England. The hamlet is southwest from the parish village of Toppesfield. Gainsford End, with the village of Toppesfield, won first prize in the 20 ...

, near Toppesfield,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

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 a residence.

History

Gainsford End Mill was built in 1869 at a cost of £2000. It replaced 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 ...

which had stood on the site since the late eighteenth century. The mill was working until and afterwards became derelict. The windshaft was installed in

Duck End Mill, Finchingfield Duck End Mill, Letch's Mill or Finchingfield Post Mill is a grade II listed Post mill at Finchingfield, Essex, England which has been restored. History ''Duck End Mill'' was built in the mid eighteenth century, dates of 1756, 1760 1773 and 177 ...

, when that mill was restored in 1958, although it was removed when a new wooden windshaft was fitted to that mill in 1986. It was converted to residential use in 2007.

Description

Gainsford End Mill is a five-storey brick tower mill with a domed cap winded by an eight-bladed

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 "f ...

. When built it had four

Patent sails Windmills are powered by their sails. Sails are found in different designs, from primitive common sails to the advanced patent sails. Jib sails The jib sail is found in Mediterranean countries and consists of a simple triangle of cloth wound rou ...

carried on a cast-iron windshaft. The brake wheel drove a cast-iron wallower carried on a cast-iron upright shaft. The great spur wheel drove three 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. The tower is diameter at the base with walls thick The tower is high, and the mill was to the top of the cap. The mill drove three pairs of

s; two pairs were diameter and the third pair were diameter.

Millers

*Lewis Steward 1874 - 1898 *Joseph Chaplin 1902

References

{{EssexWindmills Windmills in Essex Grade II listed buildings in Essex Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1869 Buildings and structures in Braintree District Grade II listed windmills 1869 establishments in England