Great Mill or Ride's Mill is a

Grade II 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 ...

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 type ...

just off the High Street in

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

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 ...

, England, that was demolished in 1924, leaving the brick base standing. It now has a new smock tower built on it as residential accommodation.

History

Work on building the ''Great mill'' was started by the

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

Humphrey of Cranbrook in 1813. Owing to the nature of the ground the mill was built on it was necessary to lay deep foundations. Lack of funds meant that the mill was left as an unfinished base for a couple of years before Thomas Webb, who owned the Little Mill, bought the unfinished mill and financed its completion in 1816. 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 1889 as auxiliary power. The mill was worked by wind until 1905, when the sails and stage were removed. It worked by steam engine until 1918, and was demolished in 1924. The mill's brick base was left, serving as a corn store in the 1930s. Great Mill, Sheerness, Kent (18939986736)

Great Mill, Sheerness, Kent (18939986736)

In 2006, planning permission was applied for, and granted, to convert the existing mill base into a flat, with a new smock tower built on the base containing another flat, and an extension containing a third flat. Construction started late in 2006. The replica windmill will have a stage and dummy sails. The cap was lifted onto the mill tower late in 2007. On 23 January 2008 a fire started in the mill tower. The fire was later declared not to have been a case of

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

Description

''Great Mill'' was a four-storey smock mill on a two-storey brick base, with a Kentish-style cap carrying 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 ...

. It was winded by hand, no

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 " ...

being fitted. There was a stage at second-floor level. The mill 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, and the steam engine drove a further two pairs, as well as the millstones in the windmill. The mill was high, and the brickwork in the base is thick. The replica has a smock built on a steel frame, with a Kentish-style cap.

Millers

*Thomas Webb 1816 – 1864 *G Ride & Son 1864 – 1918 References for above:-

References

External links

Windmill World page
on the mill. {{Kent Windmills Windmills in Kent Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Smock mills in England Grade II listed buildings in Kent Windmills completed in 1816 Demolished buildings and structures in Kent Sheerness Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures completed in 2008 1816 establishments in England