Cross in Hand Windmill (New Mill)

Cross in Hand Windmill (New Mill)

A post mill built at Framfield in 1806 and moved near this site in 1855 by the millwright Samuel Medhurst of Lewes, before relocating to its exact present position in 1868 when a two-storied roundhouse was erected around it. A lean-to was added to the roundhouse in 1900 to accommodate two further millstones powered by a steam engine. Repairs were carried out to the post mill in 1932 by Fred Neve and Sons, millwrights of Heathfield, in 1955 and 1959 by Messrs Sands of Punnetts Town, in 1969, and in 2018.

The mill comprises a timber-framed and weather-boarded buck covered in galvanised iron and steel sheeting on three sides, above a tarred English bond brick and timber-boarded roundhouse with an adjoining brick lean-to. Internally it contains timber and cast-iron machinery. The structure has five floors in total: three floors to the buck (comprising the bin floor, stone floor, and meal or spout floor from top to bottom) and a two-storey roundhouse beneath it, with a single-storey lean-to featuring a cellar attached to the roundhouse.

The roundhouse is 7.6 metres in diameter, while the buck measures 6.4 metres long and 3.7 metres wide. The post mill stands 13.7 metres high overall. The lower storey of the roundhouse is built of tarred brick, while the upper storey is constructed of timber boarding partly covered in corrugated steel sheets, all painted white. An iron and steel-clad conical roof to the roundhouse projects out from under the buck. The roundhouse features wooden-boarded doors to the front (south-west) and side (north-west), a casement window to the rear (north-east), and a single-storey lean-to with a cellar attached at the south-east. The lean-to has a timber doorway at the rear and segmental-headed windows, currently boarded-up, to the front and side.

The buck has two small fixed windows to the front, lighting the meal floor. Attached to the rear are a set of timber steps running on cast-iron wheels around an iron curb surrounding the mill (not currently fully intact as of 2020). These steps lead up to two timber half-doors providing access to the meal floor, beneath a boarded door to the stone floor and two boarded openings to the bin floor. On one side of the buck is a six-paned casement to the stone floor, and on the other side is a boarded door to the meal floor and a boarded opening to the stone floor.

The surviving stocks and sweeps (sails) of the post mill are currently in storage, the sweeps being of the double-shuttered patent type. The tailpole and fan carriage are also in storage on site. When in place, the tailpole strikes down and through the steps (0.3 metres square and 10.4 metres long) to support an eight-bladed fantail 3.4 metres in diameter. This tailpole-mounted fantail may be the only surviving example in Sussex; two others located at Argos Hill and Clayton are replicas. The fantail runs on large cast-iron wheels around a gravel track. Although currently in storage, this structure requires a clear turning circle of approximately 22 metres in diameter around the mill in order to operate.

Internally, the mill still houses its machinery. The ground floor of the roundhouse contains four brick piers supporting the crosstrees of the trestle and the joisted ceiling. Attached to one side of the roundhouse is the lean-to, now used for storage including a cellar. On the first floor of the roundhouse are the quarterbars and main post of the trestle. The boarded roof is supported internally by struts attached to the quarterbars. The main post is approximately 0.8 metres square and carved from a single oak tree cut at Whiligh near Wadhurst, East Sussex. A wooden collar supports the bottom of the buck against the post.

The meal floor contains the upper part of the main post. A crowntree (a huge transverse timber) pivots on a Samson head bearing on top of the post and carries the weight of the buck. A Samson head bracket is cast with the words "S Medhurst, Millwright, Lewes, June 1855". The main post also bears Medhurst's mark "1868 M", painted when the mill was last moved. Much of the timber frame is visible from the meal floor. Horizontal side girts are morticed to each end of the crowntree, and from these rise four vertical corner posts. Top and bottom side girts, fitted to the corner posts at eaves and floor level respectively, run parallel to the side girts. Between these are fixed studding and diagonal braces.

The most prominent machinery element is a 1.22-metre diameter great spur wheel attached to the bottom of the upright shaft. This drives the stone nut (small gear), which under-drives a pair of French burr stones on the stone floor. Also on the meal floor is a governor and tentering gear, used to regulate the gap between the millstones, as well as the meal chutes. A wooden ladder leads up to the stone floor, where the lower part of the head wheel and tail wheel can be seen attached to a cast-iron windshaft. The cast-iron head wheel is 2.95 metres in diameter and the tail wheel is 2.54 metres in diameter. The head wheel drives a wallower (gear) attached to the top of the upright shaft, powering the great spur wheel below. Next to the shaft is a set of French burr stones. There is also a maize kibbler (grinding machine) driven by a layshaft from the head wheel.

The tail wheel drives a small gear attached to a shaft to turn a set of Derbyshire Peak stones currently surrounded by a wooden tun. The millstones are 1.2 metres in diameter. A second wooden tun occupies this floor, along with a set of hoppers and chutes that originally fed grain down to the millstones from the bin floor above. Next to the tail wheel is a bell alarm to signal when the hopper requires refilling.

Another ladder leads up to the bin floor, where the upper part of the head wheel and tail wheel can be seen, as well as the sack hoist and three large grain bins. A weightbox assembly currently in storage, supported by a lever assembly, acts directly on the striking rod of the windshaft to keep the sweeps of the post mill at the required pressure. The iron windshaft is unusually carried by three bearings: in addition to the two normally fitted at the tail and behind the fixing point for the sweeps, there is an extra bearing located behind the head wheel. The roof is formed by curved timber braces.

While in operation, the buck of the post mill is not static but moves as it turns into the wind by the fantail, which extends out from the main body of the structure.