Stock Windmill 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 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 ...

Stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

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 ...

, which has been restored.

History

Stock Windmill was built circa 1816 joining an existing

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 ...

. In 1845, a second post mill was moved to a site close by. By 1862, the mill had four shuttered sails. The two post mills were demolished ''c''.1890, about which time the

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 were moved down a floor and the drive converted from underdrift to overdrift. A

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

was added in 1902 and the mill was working by wind until 1930 and afterwards by an internal combustion engine until ''c''.1936. The mill was bought by

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

in 1945 and although preserved, by 1977 it was without the fantail and associated supporting timbers, and down to only one pair of sails. Major repairs were started in 1991 by Vincent Pargeter. A grant from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

part-funded the work. The Friends of Stock Mill were formed in 1993 on completion of the restoration.

Description

The mill is a five-storey tower mill with four single

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 ...

It has a boat-shaped cap winded by a six-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 ...

. The tower is internal diameter at ground level and internal diameter at curb level. The walls are thick to first floor level and thick above that. The tower is high overall and the mill is to the top of the cap. As built, the mill had a stage at first-floor level, four common sails and was winded by hand. It originally drove two pairs of overdrift millstones. The

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 impuriti ...

windshaft was probably not made for the mill originally. It carries a diameter composite brake wheel with 81 cogs which has been converted from clasp arm construction. This drives a cast-iron wallower with 25 teeth. The cast-iron upright shaft is diameter and in three parts, with dog clutches at the fourth and fifth floor. The cast-iron great spur wheel is diameter with 76 cogs. It drove three pairs of underdrift millstones of , and diameter.

Millers

*William Moss Sr 1816– *William (Jr) & John Moss –1838 *William Moss Jr –1853 *John Pertwee 1863–66 *Joseph Clover 1870–90 *Mary Clover 1894–98 *William Mayes 1902–17 *Frank Semmens 1926–29 References for above:-

Public access

Stock Windmill is open on the second Sunday of the month between April and September.

External links

Essex Country Parks
webpage on Stock Tower Mill

webpage on Stock Mill

References

{{EssexWindmills Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Industrial buildings completed in 1816 Grade II* listed buildings in Essex Museums in Essex Stock, Essex Grade II* listed windmills Mill museums in England 1816 establishments in England