Ripple Windmill 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 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 t ...

in Ringwould,

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, that was built in

Drellingore Drellingore is a village in South East Kent, England. It lies in the Alkham Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty between Folkestone and Dover. Although the Alkham Valley is a ''dry valley'' most of the surrounding land forms a water cat ...

and moved to Ringwould in the early nineteenth century. Having been stripped of machinery and used as a television mast, it has been restored as a working windmill.

Description

Ripple Mill is a two-storey smock mill on a two-storey brick base. There is no stage. It has four single patent sails and a Kentish-style cap. The mill is 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 has three pairs 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 underdrift.

History

A windmill was marked on Robert Morden's map of 1695, a coastal map of Kent dated 1770 and 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. ''Ripple mill'' was built in the early nineteenth century at Drellingore, in the

Hawkinge Hawkinge ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe (District), Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The original village of Hawkinge is actually just less than a mile (c. 1.3 km) due east of the present village ...

parish. When the mill was moved, it was sectioned by cutting the cant posts in half lengthways, and bolting them back together at the new site. One such cant post can still be seen in the mill. A girl was killed by being struck by one of the sails, which came close to the ground, circa 1834. In 1895,

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

contributed towards repairs to the mill, which was marked as a navigational landmark. The mill lost two sails in 1927 and worked after that on the other two sails, assisted by an oil engine. The mill was working during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

but in 1947 the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the Victorian restoration, destructive 'restoration' of ancient bu ...

decided not to issue an appeal to restore the mill due to a lack of local support. In 1955, the mill was acquired by Rediffusion Ltd and stripped of machinery. The smock was festooned with aerials and used as a television relay station. Rediffusion sold the mill in 1976. The new cap was placed on the mill in 1994, with the windshaft from Shiremark Mill, Capel,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Millers

*John Mummery 1833–1849 *Henry Mummery 1845–1852 *William Mummery *W Davison 1862 *Edwin Pope 1878 *John Banks *George Simpson *John E Monins (died during WW2) References for above:-

References

External links

Windmill World page
on the mill. {{Kent Windmills Industrial buildings completed in the 17th 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