Three types of mills found in England are the post, tower, and smock mills.
- Post Mill
- A mill having a box-shaped body mounted and turning on a horizontal, main shaft (post).
- Smock Mill
- An octagonal-shaped wooden mill with sloping, horizontally weatherboarded sides which resembling a countryman's linen smock from which its name derived
- Tower Mill
- A cylindrical-shaped mill with a tower of brick, stone, or masonry.
The
post windmill was the earliest (1191) type of mill built in England and is
one of the most commonly found today. The post mill had a box-shaped wooden
body with sails on a horizontal shaft. The outside of the body of the mill
was usually weatherboarded with the boards horizontally laid. The body and
the roof were supported by a horizontal oak beam that rested across a central
vertical wooden post from which the mill's name derived. The whole structure
could be turned into the wind by the tailpole which was attached to the back
of the mill. The miller pushed the tailpole with his shoulder and slowly walked
in a circle until he had faced the mill into the wind. This procedure caused
violent vibration. In 1745, a fantail rotor was invented so that the miller
no longer had to push the tailpole. Early post mills were the open trestle
type, but in the late 18th and 19th centuries, roundhouses were added to provide
storage space and more protection for the substructure. The oldest remaining
working mill in England is the post mill at Outwood, Surrey, dated 1665. Other
examples of post mills may be seen at Great Chishill, Cambridgeshire, and
Saxstead Green, Suffolk.
The
17th century smock mill, the last of the three main types to develop, is a
variation on the tower mill. It was usually an octagonal, wooden structure
with sloping, horizontally weatherboarded sides which resembled a countryman's
linen smock from which its name drived. The mill was usually painted white
or tarred black and often was set on a brick base to better catch the wind.
The corners of the mill were protected with a strip of lead or zinc, however,
weatherproofing was always a problem as rain drove through the joints, at
the corners, and around the windows and doors. This type of mill suffered
the most from weather damage. The size of the mills varied greatly, some as
small as the smock mill at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, and others as large
as the expensively built Union Mill in Cranbrook, Kent. Sometimes the mill
would have a gallery built around the cap. As in the case of the tower mill,
only a smock mill's cap rotated to face the sails into the wind.
The Tower Mill
Tower mills first appeared after the post mill was established. These cylindrical-shaped
mills were usually made of stone or brick, the walls being at least 18 inches
thick. The outer walls were plastered over or tarred in order to keep moisture
out. It was necessary for the mill to be cylindrical in shape so that the
sails could clear the face of the tower. The early mills were short so that
the cloths of the common sails could be set from the ground. Later, as the
sails became more sophisticated, the height of the tower increased to five
or six floor, profiding storage space for the miller. The roof, or cap, of
the mill was mad of wood and contained the shaft on which the sails rotated.
The sails were faced into the wind by revolving the entire cap on a circular
wooden track by the miller who moved the tail pole connected to the cap. The
shape of the cap varied. Because these mills were of a sturdier construction,
they were able to survive the ravages of time and the elmeents better than
other types of windmills. Some examples of tower mills surviging in England
today are Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex, and Polgate Mill, Sussex.
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