Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1781 to 1781. Stocks Mill at Wittersham. The likely date of construction is 1781 - The centre post inside the Mill has the date 1781 and the initials R V carved on it. This is believed to be thedate of erection as it is certain a mill stood here in 1792. It has been argues that the mill stood somewhere else prior to its present location. Stocks Mill is the tallest post mill in Kent. Very few mills of this type survive as most were demolished when they were superseded by the more efficient smock mills. In 1980 the site was given to Kent County Council and extensive renovation was carried out to restore the mill to its original character. The mill takes it name from the surrounding area known as 'the stocks' on mid-19th century maps.

Images

Monument Types

• STOREHOUSE (Unknown date)
• WINDMILL (Post Medieval to Modern - 1781 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 92 NW 8:
(TQ 91302730) Windmill (NAT) (disused) (1) TQ 91302730. Post mill, good condition. (2) 5272. The Stocks Windmill, Stocks Road, Wittersham. TQ 92 NW 13/442 4.6.52 Grade 2* The centre post inside the Mill has the date 1781 and the initials R Vcarved on it. Post type. Roundhouse of tarred brick with sloping wooden roof covered with sheets of metal. Above weatherboarding. Only 2 sweeps remain. Small wooden balcony to the top floor on the south-east side. Fantail missing. Interior in good condition. (3) TQ 913273, Stocks Mill, a post mill with roundhouse is the tallest post mill in Kent and has four sweeps with spring sails. The round house is now a garden store, but carved on the centrepost are the dates 1781, 1785 and 1790. In good repair. (4) The Stocks Mill, one of only four post-mills to remain in Kent, is dated 1781 on the massive centre post (5). This is believed to be thedate of erection as it is certain a mill stood here in 1792. Fitted with four spring sweeps (see illus card) it continued to work until the early 1900s. Since then it has been well maintained by various owners. Four new sweeps fitted in 1958 with money raised by a local Windmill Preservation Committee and assistance from Kent Council. One middling broke in a storm in 1968, but this was repaired. (5,6,7,8)

Attempted tree-ring analysis was unsucessful. (11)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
WITTERSHAM STOCKS ROAD 1. 5272 The Stocks Windmill TQ 92 NW 13/442 4.6.52. II*
2. The centre post inside the Mill has the date 1781 and the initials R V carved on it. Post type. Roundhouse of tarred brick with sloping wooden roof covered with sheets of metal. Above weatherboarding. Only 2 sweeps remain. Small wooden balcony to the top floor on the south-east side. Fantail missing. Interior in good condition.
Listing NGR: TQ9008527347 (12)

Historic England Archive material (13)

<1> OS 1:10000 1980 (OS Card Reference). SKE48166.

<2> F1 ASP 27.02.63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42312.

<3> DOE(HHR) Boro of Ashford Kent Aug 1979 138 (OS Card Reference). SKE40810.

<4> Ind Arch SE Eng 1978 60 (A J Haselfoot) (OS Card Reference). SKE44268.

<5> Windmills of Kent 1979 83-6 (J West) (OS Card Reference). SKE51383.

<6> Windmills in Kent 1979 21 (B J & J M Turpin) (OS Card Reference). SKE51341.

<7> Windmills of Eng 1976 114-5 illus (R J Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE51361.

<8> Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 1980 612 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37929.

<9> Field report for monument TQ 92 NW 8 - February, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4707.

<11> English Heritage, 2003, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Stocks Mill, Wittersham, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE16625.

<12> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<13> Historic England, Archive material associated with Stocks Mill Listed Building (Archive). SKE54288.

Sources and further reading