Nutley Windmill is a grade II* listed open trestle

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 ...

at Nutley, East Sussex, England which has been restored to working order.

History

Nutley Windmill is thought to have been moved from

Kilndown Kilndown is a village west of Cranbrook in Kent, England. It is in the civil parish of Goudhurst. History Kilndown was established in the 1840s by Viscount Beresford. William Carr Beresford, First Viscount Beresford, British general and po ...

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

circa 1817. The first record of a windmill at Nutley is in 1840. A timber in the mill has been dated by dendrochronology to 1738–70, and the main post is even older, dating to 1533–70. In 1870, the mill was painted white and working on four common

sails A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

. The mill was modernised in the 1880s, with the original wooden windshaft being replaced by a cast-iron one, and spring sails replacing the commons. Larger millstones were added. The mill was tarred at about this point, as shown by a photo dated 1890. She worked by wind until 1908, although latterly in poor condition. In 1928, the owner of the mill, Lady Castle Stewart, had the mill shored up with brick piers and steel joists below the body. These allowed the mill to survive until she could be restored. Restoration started in 1968, The mill turned by wind again in 1971, and ground grain again in 1972. In 1975, Nutley Windmill was given to the Uckfield and District Preservation Society by Lady Castle Stewart. The Windmill is featured briefly in the 1976 concert film ''The Song Remains the Same'', featuring the English rock band

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

. It is the location for the night time fantasy scene starring Led Zeppelin's bass and keyboard player

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

. A stock broke in 1984, while filming was being done for the children's TV programme '' Chocky's Children'' for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

. A new one was fitted a week later with aid from Thames. The mill was damaged in the Great Storm of 1987, with over £6,000 worth of damage incurred. New rear steps were fitted to the mill in 1994/5, the work funded by a grant from British Telecom. Repairs to the trestle and head wheel in 1998 allowed the head stones to be worked for the first time since the mill stopped work. New sails were fitted to the mill in 2008.. Nutley Windmill featured on a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

that was issued by the Royal Mail on 20 June 2017.

Description

Nutley Windmill is an open trestle post mill. She has two

common sails Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

and two spring 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 and is winded by a tailpole. The mill drives two pairs of millstones, arranged head and tail. The wooden head wheel and tail wheel are diameter each. Both have been converted from compass arm to clasp arm construction. The body of the mill is long and wide.

Millers

The manorial records of Duddleswell show the land upon which the windmill sits was formed by a partition of a tenement in 1836 of 7 acres on the condition that no dwelling be erected. Subsequent manorial and Census records give the names and occupations of the people living at the windmill, starting with Henry Sitford from 1836 until 1862 when he forfeited it on non-payment of the mortgage. * 1836 - 1862 Henry Sitford ( then forfeit on non-payment) * 1862 - 1862 William Wells ( sold to Robert Hollands) * 1862 - 1867 Robert Hollands ( mortgaged to William Wells then forfeit on non-payment)) * 1867 - 1874 William Wells ( then sold to William Taylor) * 1874 - 1906 William Taylor ( then enfranchised) All of the above referenced from

References

External links

Visiting information
Page on Nutley Windmill.
Uckfield & District Preservation Society's
website

History

Description

Millers

References

External links

Further reading