High Salvington Windmill (formerly Durrington or Salvington Mill)

Summary

A post mill with two pairs of millstones in a head-and-tail arrangement, erected during the mid-to-late 18th century. Following closure in the late 19th century, the roundhouse was replaced in 1907. Structural repairs in 1960 preceded full restoration between 1976 and 1991, returning the mill to its 19th century working condition.

Reasons for Designation

High Salvington Windmill is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a well-preserved example of a C18 and later post mill, one of the tallest surviving in England, retaining its original form and much fabric such as the windshaft and central post;

* for the extensive range of in-situ C18 and C19 internal machinery, including the tail wheel, hurst frames and millstones;

* for evidence of the mill’s structural evolution, including C18 extension and C19 adaptations, illustrating the progressive development of milling technology.

Historic interest:

* as a rare example of a post-mill of C18 origin, sensitively restored to full working condition, which continues to demonstrate traditional milling practices.

History

High Salvington Windmill commands views over the Findon valley and the English Channel. Known as Durrington Mill until the early C20, a windmill is recorded on this site as early as the C14 (Westminster Abbey Muniments, 1300, WAM4072). The earliest cartographic evidence for a mill on this site appears on Budgen’s map of 1724. The present mill is understood to have developed in two phases. Documentary sources place the initial phase in the mid-C18, documentary evidence suggesting that a new mill had been constructed by 1757 (Casebow, 2021, p12). Dendrochronological analysis of the windshaft and a tail stone hurst beam in 2012 yielded a felling date of around 1780 (Alcock et al., 2013, p90), while the former crown tree (the cross-beam that supported the mill body prior to its replacement in the late-C20) bore an inscribed date of 1774 (Casebow, 2021, p13). The buck (body) appears to have been extended to the rear, probably to accommodate a flour grading machine, which may account for these two closely spaced C18 phases. This type of incremental modification reflects the characteristic evolution of post mills, which commonly underwent cumulative design changes and successive phases of repair over several centuries (Bridge et al., 2022, p8).

As a post mill the superstructure was engineered to rotate around a central oak post, which survives along with the C18 supporting sheers (horizontal beams). Carved from a single oak tree, the post is among the tallest known examples in England (Bridge et al., 2022, p23). Original machinery includes the oak windshaft, the primary driving shaft, and a stout elm tail wheel with compass arms (spokes) mortised into the shaft prior to erection (Casebow, 2021, p48). The mill operated with two pairs of millstones in a head-and-tail arrangement, adjusted by tentering gear comprising levers and pivoted beams to regulate the grinding gap. Ancillary mechanisms included two sack hoists and a wire machine for flour grading. In the mid-C19, the tail stones were upgraded with French Burr stones for fine flour, housed in the original hurst frames. The head stones, composed of Derbyshire gritstones (Peaks) for animal feed, may also have been replaced at this time. Other C19 refinements included spring-shuttered sweeps (sails), an iron poll end fitted to the windshaft and centrifugal governors that converted the tentering gear to automatic regulation. These improvements were integrated into the existing mill structure and enabled an individual miller to control the milling process efficiently. The first timber roundhouse may also date from this period.

The mill ceased operation at the end of the C19. In 1907, its timber roundhouse was replaced with an octagonal concrete-clad structure, which functioned as a tearoom until the mid-C20. Worthing Borough Council acquired the mill in 1959 and commissioned restoration works by millwrights Edwin Hole & Son, including replacement of broken side girts, corner posts, roof timbers and external steps and the installation of dummy sweeps (Casebow, 2021, p14). Following storm damage in 1976, the High Salvington Mill Trust was established and undertook a major restoration programme, completed in 1991, which returned the mill to full working condition. Works included renewal of the trestle, crown tree, timber-framing and external cladding; extension of the tailpole; installation of a replica brake wheel and fitting of new sweeps designed to replicate the C19 pattern. The early-C20 roundhouse was replaced and original machinery was retained and restored. The mill reopened to visitors in the early 1980s and resumed grinding in 1991. In 1993, the Trust received a SPAB conservation award for the quality and accuracy of the restoration.

Details

A post mill erected during the mid-to-late C18. The roundhouse was replaced in the early and late-C20. Structural repairs in 1960 preceded full restoration between 1976 and 1991, returning the mill to its C19 working condition.

MATERIALS: the buck (body) and roundhouse are both timber framed; the buck is clad in weatherboarding, and the roundhouse is vertically boarded. Both are painted black. Internally, the mill has timber and iron machinery.

PLAN: the buck is arranged over two floors, consisting of a stone floor above and a meal floor below, with a single-storey roundhouse beneath.

EXTERIOR: the mill comprises a single-storey, late-C20 roundhouse with a conical roof and a two-storey buck with a curved roof. The front of the buck has four late-C20 sweeps: a pair of commons and a pair of spring-shutters, fixed to the windshaft via a C19 cast-iron poll end. The sides of the buck have small, two-pane casement windows: one to the meal floor and three to the stone floor. At the rear, two four-pane casements light the stone floor. A set of mid-C20 retractable timber steps below lead up to a boarded door, which provides access to the meal floor. An extended tailpole projects through the steps.

INTERIOR: the centre post is visible within the roundhouse: it stands 6.6m high, 0.67m square with large chamfers and is carved from a single oak tree. It is suspended and braced by a reconstructed trestle comprising four quarter bars and two cross trees, supported on rebuilt brick piers. Two sheers (long beams) run from breast to tail, supporting the base of the buck against the post.

The meal floor above contains the 16-sided upper section of the centre post, which bears a graffiti heart dated ‘1797’, and the initials ‘T H’, possibly Thomas Harwood who purchased the mill in 1819. A replacement crown tree (cross-beam above the central post) pivots on a Samson head atop the post and supports the weight of the buck. Original timbers include a jowled corner post at the front right-hand side of the buck along with some of the wall frame including chamfered studding and floor beams. The two replica corner posts at the rear are inset, consistent with the extension of the buck in the late C18.

The timber hurst frames that support the millstones on the stone floor above are served by tentering gear, which includes bridge trees and brayers (pivoted beams) and manual override levers. Two C19 governors (centrifugal devices comprising rotating weights) are connected to the tentering systems via steelyards (long iron levers); the tail steelyard is a replica. Two C19 grain bins survive, one incorporating a panel from an earlier bin. Replacement timber chutes carry grain meal to the perimeter of the room for sacking.

A renewed ladder stair leads up to the stone floor, which houses the upper workings of the mill. The windshaft, formed from a single oak tree, that projects out of the front of the mill, with the sweeps fitted via the iron poll end and the sweep stocks. The two pairs of millstones are set in a head-and-tail arrangement and driven by a 3m diameter brake wheel, renewed in 1985, and an original compass-arm tail wheel of elm, 2.4m in diameter. The brake wheel drives a stone nut (a pinion gear) mounted on a quant (a square spindle) which under-drives a pair of 1.3m-diameter Derbyshire Peak head stones, enclosed in a wooden tun. The tail wheel similarly powers a set of 1.2m-diameter French Burr tail stones, also encased in a tun. The runner stone bears the name of the millstone-maker ‘Coombe & Co, 30 Mark Lane, London’ on its iron eye-ring. There is a wire machine for grading flour, rebuilt using the original spindle and brushes, and two sack hoists beside the brake wheel, operated via friction drives from the tail wheel. The spindles and chain are original. Adjacent to the brake wheel is a hopper and a bell alarm, used to signal when grain refilling is required.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

432514

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bridge, M, Bonwick, L, Davies, M, Pearce, D, What do dendrochronology and other timber-dating methods tell us about the history of English post mills? in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 53, (2022), 31-56
Alcock, N, Tyers, C, Tree-Ring Date Lists 2013 in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 44, (2013), 90
Tucker, D, Millstones, Quarries and Millstone-Makers in Post Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 11, (1977), 1-21
Moore, C, Windmills A New History, (2010)
Casebow, P, High Salvington: Saving Worthing’s Last Windmill, (2021)
Brunnarius, M, The Windmills of Sussex, (1979), 41-43

Websites
Entry for Coombe and Co in Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, accessed November 2025 from https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1862_London_Exhibition:_Catalogue:_Class_VIII.:_Coombe_and_Co
Bonwick, L, ‘Historical Introduction to Mills and Milling: The Heyday of the Mill’ (2003), accessed November 2025 from https://millsarchive.org/explore/features-and-articles/entry/111731/Historical-introduction/5952
Mills Archive Trust: High Salvington Windmill, accessed November 2025 from https://millsarchive.org/mills/index/?which=2581
Sussex Mills Group: High Salvington Windmill, accessed November 2025 from https://www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk/highsalv.htm
High Salvington Mill Trust website, accessed November 2025 from https://highsalvingtonwindmill.co.uk/restoration/
Hudson, TP (ed), ‘Durrington’ in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 1, Bramber Rape (Southern Part), 1980, pp81-85, accessed November 2025 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol6/pt1/pp81-85#fnn81

Other
News item on Durrington Windmill, The Kentish Post, 23 November 1755
Marriage Licence, 10 March 1700, West Sussex Record Office, Add. MS. 12
Glebe Terrier, Tarring, Sussex, 1615-1664, Lambeth Palace Library, VH 21/55
Sun Fire Office policy registers, London Metropolitan Archives CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936, entry no. 33161, 23 May 1757
Westminster Abbey Muniments Collection, WAM4072, (1300)
Richard Budgen’s Map of Sussex 1724 (1 inch to 1 mile)

End of official list entry

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