Gibraltar Mill

TL 63 NE GREAT BARDFIELD MILL ROAD (north side)

3/195 Gibraltar Mill 21.12.67 (Formerly listed under Outlying Items) - II

Tower windmill, now a dwelling. Early C18, converted 1934. Plastered red brick, boarded cap. Built in 2 stages, originally octagonal to a height of 6.10 metres, later raised to 9.77 metres, reducing to a circular plan. Wall thickness 1.20 metres at the base. Single-storey domestic extension to NE, of plastered brick with shingled roof. 4 floors with C20 casements on each. Boat- shaped cap, stocks and skeleton sails, fantail gear without fantail. Height overall 13.44 metres. Farries finds the earliest documentary evidence of it in 1707, and concludes that it was built after the great storm of 1703, which destroyed many mills, as an experimental tower mill with exceptionally massive walls, completed soon after the sieges of Gibraltar, 1704-5. It was not successful commercially, and was converted to a cottage, with an inserted stack in the wall. It was converted back to a mill in 1754 and raised to its present height. It was derelict 1899-1904 after storm damage and was then equipped with the present fantail gear. It had one pair of stones. Some of the equipment remains in situ. (K.G. Farries, Essex Windmills, Millers and Millwrights, vol. 3, 1984, 24-7). . .. . . .

Listing NGR: TL6800430727