Terling 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 I ...

Smock mill at Terling,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, 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 Riv ...

, England, which has been converted to residential use.

History

''Terling Windmill'' was built here in c.1818. It is said to have been originally built at Cressing c1770, but this has neither been proved nor disproved. Originally it was a

bark mill Bark mills, also known as Catskill's mills, are water, steam, horse, ox or wind-powered edge mills used to process the bark, roots, and branches of various tree species into a fine powder known as tanbark, used for tanning leather. This powder ...

, but was advertised for sale in 1818 as “new built” and “may be converted to corn grinding at an inconsiderable expense” The mill may have been built here by Chappell, a millwright from

Witham Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Che ...

. The mill was painted white until 1929 when the smock was tarred. In 1935, the mill was damaged in a gale and lost its

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 " ...

. A new pair of sails from Button's Mill, Diss,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

was fitted in the 1930s. They were brought from Diss by rail and then horse and cart. The mill was working by wind until 1949, and afterwards by external power. On 30 August 1950, the miller was trapped in the machinery and killed, despite the best efforts of the fire brigade to rescue him. Thus the working life of the mill ended. The mill was house converted in 1970, with the major machinery being retained, and its external appearance restored.

Description

''Terling Windmill'' is a four-storey smock mill on a single-storey brick base. A stage was not used. The mill had four double

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 ...

and the domed cap was winded by a fantail. When the mill was working, it had a tarred smock with a white cap. After conversion, the mill was painted white, with the cap clad in aluminium sheets.

Mill

''Terling Windmill'' has an octagonal single-storey brick base. The walls of which are thick at ground level. The base is across the flats and high. The brickwork at the top of the base is about thick. The smock shows signs of having been dismantled and transported in sections at some point, with the cant posts being newer than the framing. The tower is to the curb, and the domed cap rises above the curb to the underside of the finial, giving the mill an overall height of about .

Sails and windshaft

''Terling Windmill'' has 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 impuriti ...

windshaft and four double Patent sails. The last working pair of sails came from Button's Mill, Diss,

, having originally been on the

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 Mount Pleasant,

Framlingham Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 Census and an estimated 4,016 in 2019. Nearby villages include Ea ...

, Suffolk. They had a span of and were wide. The sails now on the mill have a span of .

Machinery

The wooden Brake Wheel is of clasp arm construction, diameter, with 96 cogs. This drives an iron Wallower of with 47 cogs. At the lower end of the long wooden Upright Shaft is the clasp arm Great Spur Wheel, which has 108 cogs, and drove three pairs of millstones. The two pairs of French Burr stones being driven by Stone Nuts with 26 cogs, whilst the Peak stones were driven by a Stone Nut with 25 cogs.

Fantail

''Terling Windmill'' was winded by an eight-bladed fantail, driving an iron worm on the curb.

Millers

*Wood 1818 *Frederick Rust 1859 *Charles Joseph Doe 1882 – 1902 *Martin Bonner 1902 – 1912 *Herbert Bonner 1914 – 1950 References for above:-

Culture and media

Terling Windmill featured in the 1937 film '' Oh, Mr. Porter!'' starring

Will Hay William Thomson Hay (6 December 1888 – 18 April 1949) was an English comedian who wrote and acted in a schoolmaster sketch that later transferred to the screen, where he also played other authority figures with comic failings. His film ''Oh ...

External links

Windmill World
webpage on Terling windmill

References

{{EssexWindmills Smock mills in England Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Commercial buildings completed in 1818 Grade II listed buildings in Essex Grade II listed windmills Windmills in Essex Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom Terling