Stanford Windmill

Stanford Mill, Kennett Lane, Stanford, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6DG

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Overview

Tower mill. Built in 1851 by millwright John Hill of Ashford. Alterations in late C20.An adjoining brick wall and arch, a modern house to the east, and a relocated K6 telephone kiosk are excluded from the listing. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1370011
Date first listed:: 29-Dec-1966
List Entry Name:: Stanford Windmill
Statutory Address:: Stanford Mill, Kennett Lane, Stanford, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6DG

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Date:: 2003-02-21
Reference:: IOE01/09303/16
Rights:: © Mr Brian Collins. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1370011
Date first listed:: 29-Dec-1966
Date of most recent amendment:: 29-May-2014
List Entry Name:: Stanford Windmill
Statutory Address 1:: Stanford Mill, Kennett Lane, Stanford, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6DG

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Stanford Mill, Kennett Lane, Stanford, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6DG

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Kent
District:: Folkestone and Hythe (District Authority)
Parish:: Stanford
National Grid Reference:: TR1279837840

Summary

Tower mill. Built in 1851 by millwright John Hill of Ashford. Alterations in late C20. An adjoining brick wall and arch, a modern house to the east, and a relocated K6 telephone kiosk are excluded from the listing.

Reasons for Designation

Stanford Windmill, a brick tower mill built by the millwright John Hill in 1851 is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

* Degree of survival: the original mill machinery and fittings, although not complete, survive to a degree now rare in unrestored windmills; * Architectural interest: for its unusual two-stage design and buttressing and the rare carved inscription on one of the beams commemorating its date and builder; * Rarity: as the best-preserved example of only eight surviving tower mills in Kent, a county with a stronger tradition of timber smock mills.

History

The tower windmill at Stanford was built for John Hogben by the millwright John Hill of Ashford in 1851. Hill’s firm was one of the largest in the area and was responsible for building many windmills and watermills in Kent and Sussex. After a succession of millers during the C19, in 1913 Henry Taylor took possession. The mill suffered minor damage during the First World War when a bomb fell nearby. In 1927 a single-cylinder oil engine was fitted to power the stones when the wind was insufficient; this was replaced by a Rushton and Hornsby diesel engine in 1938. In 1946 the shutters were removed from the sweeps, the fan was removed and the mill was powered solely by the diesel engine. Having been bought by M Hancock and Son in 1959, in 1961 the sweeps and fanstage were entirely removed and the timber cap roof was replaced by corrugated asbestos-cement sheets. Milling continued using electric power until it ceased to operate in 1969. Subsequently the timber gallery was removed and some machinery sold to Draper’s Mill, Margate which was being restored at the time. In the 1990s the area surrounding the mill was developed for housing.

Details

Tower mill built in 1851 by the millwright, John Hill of Ashford.

MATERIALS: yellow and pale red stock brick laid in English bond. The upper level retains the tarred finish which has been removed from the base.

PLAN: cylindrical base containing the first two floors and a tapering upper section surmounted by a timber-framed, boat-shaped cap. EXTERIOR: the lower part has eight, two-stage buttresses with sandstone capping which formerly supported the timber gallery (or stage) at second-floor level. The cap has corrugated asbestos-cement cladding and the sweeps and fanstage have been removed. The fenestration is of small four-centred arched windows with sandstone stone sills and brick ’eyebrow’ drip mouldings. The openings contain cast-iron casements, those to the lower floors with twelve panes, the upper ones having nine. The ground floor entrance is to the north and has a shallow brick arch and a batten door. There were additional doors at first and second floor level. The first-floor door was for hoisting grain sacks and the opposed second-floor doors gave access to the gallery. The first-floor door survives, the two second-floor doors have been converted to windows with square-headed timber casements.

INTERIOR: the mill has five floors. These include, from the top, the Dust floor, Bin floor, Stone floor and Spout floor. The floors are supported on heavy frames of Baltic pine, the Stone floor being reinforced with iron stanchions. One of the beams supporting the Stone floor bears the inscription ‘ BUILT BY/ JOHN HOGBEN/ HILL MAY 1851 MILLWht’. Each floor has a sack hoist trapdoor set vertically above the ones below.

MACHINERY: although incomplete, significant surviving elements of the machinery remain. These include the curb (circular track on which the cap rotates); the brake wheel and wind shaft; wallower; upright shaft; great spur wheel and stone and machine nuts and shafts; tentering gear and grain/meal/dresser bins and chutes. Most of the machinery is of cast-iron. Two pairs of millstones remain, one of flinty quartz (French Burr) for flour and one of Millstone Grit (Derbyshire Peak) for animal feed. The enclosing timber tuns and hoppers have been lost.

The windmill is adjoined by a brick wall and arch connecting it to a modern house to the east. A relocated K6 telephone kiosk is located at the foot of the windmill to the north-west. All these structures are excluded from the listing.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 175678
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
West, J, The Windmills of Kent, (1979), 73-75
Websites
Stanford Mill, Kent, accessed from http://www.millsarchive.com/aspx/secured/ListItems.aspx?intMillID=2763&strTitle=
Other
Vincent Pargeter, The Tower Mill, Kennett Lane, Stanford, Kent - A Brief History, Technical Appreciation and Recommendations for Repair, June 2001,

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

The listed building is shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.