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Willesborough Windmill
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Willesborough Mill

Area Guides: Ashford
Attractions:

Windmills

Email: Click here to email the Mill
Telephone - please mention Let's Stay Kent: 01233 661866
Website: http://www.willesboroughwindmill.co.uk


Details: The windmill, a white smock mill built in 1869 onto a two storey red brick base with attached miller's cottage, is now a Grade II* listed building. It incorporates ‘patent’ type shutters in the sweeps instead of canvas and sails, and produced enough power to turn four sets of mill stones as well as the maize and oats crushing/cutting machines.

This mill replaced a smaller smock mill (age unknown) which had been in operation beforehand on the same site and whose sweeps were reported coming very close to the ground. Information received lately states that the current windshaft and brake wheel were reclaimed from that old mill - a common practice amongst millwrights - this could mean that other items were also re-used. Three years later in 1872 a steam engine was added to allow the mill to keep working when the wind had dropped. The Sails, or Sweeps, as they are known in this part of Kent, finally stopped turning in the late 1930s (cheaper electric power) when the mill could no longer compete with the local roller flour mills. Using only the electric auxiliary power the mill changed over to producing animal feed, grinding peas and beans, and crushing oats and maize. Some flour was produced using a smaller set of stones driven off a lay shaft. This operation continued through the War years until the 1950s when further industrial mechanization in commercial milling caused its closure, the mill building then being used for storage only and later as a home until 1989.

In 2001 Willesborough Windmill Trust Limited took a 25-year lease of the Mill, taking on the responsibility for fund-raising and further restoration to make the mill once again safe and open to the public.

The Mill now has a new cap and new sweeps. The mill is working and the Friends of Willesborough Windmill are producing their own bread flour ground from local grain.

The Mill will be open every Saturday and Sunday afternoon and Bank Holiday Mondays 2.00 to 5.00 until the end of Septembe.r During July and August the Mill will also be open on Wednesday afternoons 2.00 to 5.00. Often on Saturday afternoons there are weddings in the Mill and receptions in the Barn, so check before visiting. Sundays are always available. During the winter months (October through to the end of March) the Mill is closed for tours but The Barn - which can be heated - is available for hire for meetings, receptions, parties and workshops.

Click here to view accommodation in the Ashford area

Click here to view the Ashford Tourist Guide

Disclaimer: The information on this leisure attraction was presented with the best of intentions. Any reported errors will be corrected immediately. People interested in contacting the above leisure attraction should confirm for themselves the accuracy of any data presented.



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Another Kent Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay Kent.
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