Ramsey Windmill

RAMSEY AND PARKESTON THE STREET TM 23 SW (north-west side) 2/68 Ramsey Windmill 29.4.52 31.10.86

GV II*

Post mill. 1842. Roundhouse of red brick in Flemish bond, buck timber framed and weatherboarded, with fabric roofs. Roundhouse of 2 storeys, buck of 3 storeys. The roundhouse has one C20 casement on each floor to SW and NE, and one plain boarded door on each floor to SE. The buck is fixed with the sails to NW; it has one sash of 16 lights on each side of the meal floor and stone floor, one small casement in the tail gable, and a plain boarded door in the tail. The post and trestle are carried by the exceptionally high roundhouse, which has a slight batter. The sails are of double-shuttered patent type, now without shutters, forming the original working set; they were struck by a chain on a purchase wheel set in the tail wall of the buck. The mill was winded by a six-vaned fan mounted above the roof, driving via shafts and gears to a worm-wheel mounted on the quaker-bars below the body, the iron wheels running on a stone track; the fan is missing, but the remainder of the drive is present, and is unique in Britain. The buck is lightly built, partly of pine, with oak being reserved for the main timbers. There are 3 pairs of stones, 2 pairs over-driven in the head, one under-driven in the tail, offset to the left. Most of the machinery is of cast iron, except the brake-wheel which is of wooden clasp-arm type with 2 cog-rings. The inner ring was for driving the dressing machinery, now missing. There is also an interesting drive for a former jog-scry. The mill is believed to have been moved from Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1842 by Henry Collins. Robert Brooks was the first owner, and the mill remained in the hands of the Brooks family for most of its working life. In 1937 it was sold to R.M. Scott of Ipswich, and it last worked in 1939. By 1974 it was derelict, with all the main timbers broken, on the verge of collapse. Repairs were effected by volunteers from the Suffolk Mills Group and the owner, Michael Organ. No attempt was made to correct deflections and distortions, but an ingenious system of steel girders, tie rods and brackets was inserted to prevent further movement. Much timberwork was replaced, and all the cladding. (K.F. Farries, Essex Windmills, Millers and Millwrights, IV, 1985).

Listing NGR: TM2093730372