South Ockendon Windmill was a

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 ...

South Ockendon South Ockendon is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish within the Thurrock borough in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It is located on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to t ...

, Essex, England which collapsed on 2 November 1977.

History

''South Ockendon Windmill'' was built in the 1820s. A date of 1829 is often quoted but the mill was marked on the Greenwoods' map of 1825. The mill was a combined mill, with a waterwheel driving a pair of millstones in the base in addition to those driven by wind. The mill may have been built with the waterwheel from new. The first reference to the waterwheel was in 1845. In June 1853 the mill was struck by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

. A steam engine had been installed by 1912 and the mill ceased working in 1923. The mill collapsed on 2 November 1977. The wreckage was taken into store at

South Woodham Ferrers South Woodham Ferrers is a town and civil parish in the borough of Chelmsford, in the English county of Essex. It is approximately from London and southeast of the city of Chelmsford, and had a population of 16,453 at the 2011 Census, a decre ...

by Vincent Pargeter, millwright to

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 ...

. A plan to restore and exhibit some of the remains in South Ockendon was shelved in 1994. The remains are still in store, available to be used if a replica of the mill is ever built, either on its original site or elsewhere. In 2005, it was announced that some of the machinery was to be used in the restoration of

Halvergate Halvergate is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, north of Reedham, between the Rivers Bure and Yare, within The Broads. To the east of the village is the hamlet of Wickhampton and the Halvergate Marshes, an area of ...

Windmill,

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 ...

Description

''South Ockendon Windmill'' was a three-storey smock mill on a two-storey brick base, with a stage at first-floor level. The mill had two 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 two single Patent sails. The boat-shaped cap was 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 " ...

Mill

''South Ockendon Windmill'' had an octagonal two-storey brick base, which consisted the ground floor of the mill and a cellar. It was across the flats and high. The cellar was just under high. The mill was high overall, and from ground level to the top of the cap. The smock was from sill to curb. The mill was diameter at the curb externally, the cant posts being about by . The stage was at first-floor level, above the ground. The cap was boat-shaped, similar to those found on

windmills. Winding was by an eight-bladed fantail.

Sails and windshaft

''South Ockendon Windmill'' had 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 carrying two double Patent sails and two single Patent sails with a span of . The double-shuttered sails had eleven bays of three shutters, and the single-shuttered sails had nine bays of three shutters.

Machinery

The wooden brake wheel was of composite construction, diameter. It had a wooden rim and a cast-iron centre with six arms. It had been converted from clasp arm construction. The Wallower was wooden, as was the Upright Shaft. The Upright Shaft was made up of four pieces of timber. The clasp arm Great Spur Wheel was of wood. It drove three pairs of underdrift millstones, with a fourth pair being driven by the waterwheel. The wind-driven millstones were all French Burr stones, two pairs being diameter and the third pair being diameter. Little is known about the waterwheel except that it was undershot and drove a single pair of millstones on the first floor of the mill, which was the same floor as the wind powered millstones.

Fantail

''South Ockendon Windmill'' was winded by an eight-bladed fantail Final drive was a wooden worm gear driving onto cogs of pitch at the top of the smock.

Millers

*William Eve 1820 – 1829 *Thomas Banks 1845 *Thomas Bennett Sturgeon 1848 *Stephen Challis 1877 * Smith c1877 – 1919 * C and William Sturgeon 1912 – 1914

References

External links

Windmill World
webpage on South Ockendon Mill {{Thurrock places Towers completed in the 1820s Smock mills in England Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Watermills in England Windmills in Essex Buildings and structures in Thurrock Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures demolished in 1977