King'S Windmill

TQ 12 SW 965/15/463 22.9.59

SHIPLEY SHIPLEY VILLAGE King's Windmill

II*

Smock mill and engine house. Mill of 1879 for Mr Friend Marten by Grist and Steel, millwrights of Horsham, engine house of 1880. Corn mill of four storeys has octagonal "roundhouse" of tarred weather-boarding. Platform above this supported on diagonal struts. Upper storeys faced with weather- boarding. Pointed hexagonal cap with ball finial. Sweeps and fantail intact. Attached engine house of one storey corrugated iron on wooden frame with partially gabled and partially hipped corrugated iron roof and casement windows. Steam engine no longer present but water pump survives. Good example of a smock mill in working order and the most recent and biggest windmill in Sussex. The engine house has always been an integral part of the mill and its history and was built within months of the completion of the windmill in 1880. There are two inscriptions over a window on the second floor of the mill: "Engine started January 6th 1880" and "First day new engine October 20th 1880". The steam engine was important to the operation of the mill as the location was not ideal for catching the wind. The mill was bought in 1906 by the author Hilaire Belloc, who owned it until his death in 1953. The mill was worked until 1926 when the engine was disposed of.

Listing NGR: TQ1432421870