Duck End Mill, Letch's Mill or Finchingfield Post Mill is a

grade II listed 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, H ...

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 central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

Finchingfield Finchingfield is a village in the Braintree district of North Essex, England, a primarily rural area. It is approximately from Thaxted, with the nearest larger towns being Saffron Walden and Braintree. Nearby villages include Great Bardfie ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

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 has been restored.

History

''Duck End Mill'' was built in the mid eighteenth century, dates of 1756, 1760 1773 and 1777 being recorded in the mill. It was originally built as an open trestle mill, the roundhouse being added in 1840. The mill was insured for £50 in 1790 and £100 in 1794. The mill was working until c. 1890, and had an all wood windshaft to the last. This was replaced by the

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

one from Gainsford End Mill, Toppesfield in the 1950s. A replacement wooden windshaft has since been fitted.

Description

''Duck End Mill'' is a post mill with a single storey roundhouse. The mill is winded by a tailpole. It has four Spring sails. There was one pair of

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, driven by an Brake Wheel. The body of the mill measures by in plan.

Millers

*Samuel Stammers 1790 - 1807 *Edward Stammers 1807 - 1817 *Edward Letch 1817 - 1852 *Edward Letch Jr 1852 - *Andrew Luke Letch -1890 References for above:-

Public access

The mill is open to the public on the one Sunday of each month in the summer.

References

External links

Essex Country Parks
webpage on Finchingfield Post Mill.

webpage on Duck End Mill. {{EssexWindmills Post mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Industrial buildings completed in 1756 Grade II listed buildings in Essex Museums in Essex Mill museums in England Windmills in Essex Finchingfield Grade II listed windmills