West Blatchington 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 ...

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 ...

West Blatchington West Blatchington is an area in Hove, East Sussex, England. The area grew rapidly in the inter-war period, but unlike nearby Hangleton it had more infrastructure, with St Peter's Church, a working farm, a windmill and an industrial area group ...

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

, in the historic county of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which has been restored and is open to the public.

History

''West Blatchington Windmill'' was built in the 1820s, first appearing on Greenwood's map of 1823. It was painted by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

in 1825. The mill is

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexa ...

al in plan, whereas most smock mills are

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al. She was working until 1897, when two sails were damaged. In 1937, the mill was acquired from the

Marquess of Abergavenny Marquess of Abergavenny (pronounced Aber''genn''y) in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created on 14 January 1876, along with the title Earl of Lewes (pronounced "Lewis"), in the County of Sussex, for the ...

by Hove Corporation, and has been maintained as a landmark. Repairs were done to the mill by Neve's, the Heathfield

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 ...

s in 1937. The windmill was

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

at Grade II* on 24 March 1950. As of February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of

Description

As built, ''West Blatchington Windmill'' is a three-storey smock mill on a three-storey brick base, with a stage at third-floor level. In 1825 she had four

Common sails Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

but latterly was worked with four Patent sails. These were carried on 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, mounted on a cross, similar to the Lincolnshire practice. The mill is fitted with Holloway's screw brake. The cap is in the Kentish style, 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 "f ...

. The mill drove two pairs of underdrift

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. The mill stood at the junction of three barns, one of the original barns remains standing today, and one of the others was replaced with a new build barn in 1997. Most of the machinery was removed in 1937, leaving the Brake Wheel and Upright Shaft. image:West Blatchington Barn.jpg image:West_Blatchington_1937_by_R_Jameson.jpg image:West_Blatchington_Mill_by_R_Jameson_1937.jpg These four watercolours were painted in 1937 by R Jameson. At the time the mill was on a farm that was being run by tenant farmers Arthur and Helen Paul.

Millers

*Hodson - 1887 *John Brown - 1887 *Whittington - 1897

References

External links

West Blatchington Windmill
Page on West Blatchington windmill.
Mill museum website
{{Authority control Towers completed in 1820 Industrial buildings completed in 1820 Smock mills in England Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Museums in Brighton and Hove Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Windmills in Brighton and Hove Mill museums in England Hexagonal buildings

History

Description

Millers

References

Further reading

External links