Rock Mill is a Grade II listed

smock mill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This typ ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, England, which has been converted to residential use.

History

Rock Mill was built in 1823. The mill was working at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

but was converted to a house in about 1919, using the machinery as decoration. The composer

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...

bought the mill in 1953 and died there in 1962. As of 2007, the mill is used as offices.

Description

''Rock Mill'' is a three-storey smock mill on a single-storey base, formerly carrying a beehive cap winded by a

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 " ...

. It had four Patent sails and drove three 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 ...

(two pairs French Burr and one pair of Peak stones).

Millers

*Thomas Harwood, 1837 *Henry Harwood, 1837-40 *E. Mitchell, 1845-55 *S.A. Coote, 1890

References

External links

Windmill World
webpage on Rock Mill. {{Windmills in England Windmills in West Sussex Smock mills in England Grade II listed buildings in West Sussex Windmills completed in 1823 Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom Grade II listed windmills