White Roding Windmill is a Grade II listed preserved

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

at White Roding,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England.

History

White Roding Windmill was built in 1877, replacing a

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 vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

which had stood on the site since 1609. The post mill was destroyed on 1 January 1877 when the main post broke in a gale as the miller had too much cloth spread on the Common sails. A new tower mill was built by Whitmore's the Wickham Market, Suffolk millwrights to replace the post mill. The mill worked by wind until 1926, and then by engine until 1931. The lease on the mill expired that year and was not renewed. In 1937, the mill was purchased by the actor

Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...

, passing to a company in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...

in 1946. During the 1950s, the mill was derelict and threatened with demolition on more than one occasion. In the 1970s, millwrights Philip Barrett-Lennard and Vincent Pargeter built a new cap for the mill.

Description

White Roding windmill is a five-storey brick tower mill which had an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

cap winded by a six bladed

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 " ...

. It had four Patent sails 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 impur ...

windshaft. The only remaining piece of machinery is the Brake Wheel, which is diameter with 115 cogs. All other machinery was removed shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The tower is high, diameter at the base and diameter at the curb. The walls are thick at the base. The mill is to the top of the cap. The mill drove two pairs of underdrift millstones.

Millers

*George Wilson 1830–1839 (post mill) *William Portway 1845–1848 *John Dixon 1850 *Benjamin Roast 1855–1877 *Benjamin Roast 1877–1890 (tower mill) *William and Frank Roast 1890–1917 *William Garner and Sons 1917 - 1936 Reference for above:-

References

External links

*
Windmill World
webpage on White Roding Windmill. {{EssexWindmills Windmills in Essex History of Essex Grade II listed buildings in Essex Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1877 Uttlesford Grade II listed windmills 1877 establishments in England