Beacon Mill is a
Grade II
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
listed
smock mill in
Benenden
Benenden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald, to the west of Tenterden. In addition to the main village, Iden Green, East End, Dingleden and Standen Street set ...
,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
which is in need of restoration. The mill has been out of use since 1923 and is privately owned.
History
''Beacon Mill'' is one of two
windmill
A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery.
Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...
s marked on the 1819-43
Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
map. It was also marked on Greenwood's 1821 map. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, ''Beacon Mill'' was run in conjunction with Wandle Mill, on the
River Rother.
[ The mill was last worked for trade in 1921 and the sails and fantail were removed in 1923. Two of the sails were re-erected on the White Mill at ]Headcorn
Headcorn is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The parish is on the floodplain of the River Beult south east of Maidstone.
The village is 8 mi (13 km) southeast of Maidst ...
. The other pair were intended for re-use on the Union Mill, Cranbrook but proved unsuitable for that mill. A pair of diameter millstone
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a s ...
s from the mill were installed in the Union Mill at Cranbrook.[ On 3 December 1977 the cap suffered damage in a storm, and most of the roof was subsequently removed.]plywood
Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...
in the early 1980s in an effort to keep the weather out. It retains the plywood cladding today.
Description
''Beacon Mill'' has a three-storey smock on a two-storey brick base. It was approximately high overall (to the roof of the cap). It had four single Patent sails mounted on a cast-iron windshaft and was winded by a fantail. There was a wide wooden stage at first-floor level. The Brake Wheel was diameter, driving a diameter Wallower. The Brake Wheel was wood, as is the Wallower and Upright Shaft.
Millers
*William Oxley
*Richard Reeves 1839-47
*John Barton
*Richard Corke
*F Richardson
*Thomas Collins Sr. - 1884
*Thomas Collins Jr. 1884 - 99
*Robert Burgess 1899 - 1921
References
External links
Windmill World page
on the mill.
{{Kent Windmills
Buildings and structures completed in the 19th century
Windmills in Kent
Grinding mills in the United Kingdom
Smock mills in England
Grade II listed buildings in Kent
Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom