Keston Windmill

Keston Windmill

Keston mill, 4 February 1982
Origin
Mill location TQ 415 640
51°21′25″N 0°01′59″E / 51.357°N 0.033°E
Operator(s) Privately owned
Year built 1716
Information
Purpose Corn milling
Type Post mill
Storeys Three storeys
Roundhouse storeys Single storey
Number of sails Four
Type of sails Double Patent sails
Windshaft cast iron
Winding Tailpole
Number of pairs of millstones Two pairs located in the breast

Keston Windmill is a grade I listed[1] Post mill in Keston, formerly in Kent and now in the London Borough of Bromley. The mill was built in 1716 and is conserved with its machinery intact but not in working order.

History

Keston Windmill was built in 1716. William Ashby, the Westerham millwright fitted new sails and repaired the breast of the mill in December 1836. The mill was working by wind until either 1878[2][3] or 1900.[4][5] In 1955, Kent County Council placed a preservation order on the mill.[5] The mill was built to grind corn into flour. The mill is privately owned and preserved with its machinery intact, but not in working order. It is not generally open to the public.

Description

Keston Mill has a three storey body on a single storey roundhouse. The roundhouse enclosed the trestle and the date 1716 is carved on the main post. It had four double Patent sails carried on a cast iron windshaft. The mill is winded by a tailpole. The wooden brake wheel drives a cast iron wallower, which drives a cast iron great spur wheel with wooden cogs. This drives two pairs of underdrift millstones in the breast of the mill. The mill also has a flour dresser (bolter).[2] The bolter in Keston mill has been used as the model for a reconstructed bolter in Lowfield Heath Windmill, Charlwood, Surrey.[6]

Millers

References for above:-[2][7]

See also

References

The main post with carved date 1716 at bottom
  1. ↑ "KESTON WINDMILL, HEATHFIELD ROAD, BROMLEY, BROMLEY, GREATER LONDON". English Heritage. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 West, Jenny (1973). The Windmills of Kent. London: Charles Skilton Ltd. pp. p49–52. ISBN 0-284-98534-1.
  3. ↑ This date may refer to Olive's Mill, Keston
  4. ↑ Coles Finch, William (1933). Watermills and Windmills. London: C W Daniel Company. p. 229.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Keston Landmark's Future". West Kent Mercury. 3 June 1955. p. p11.
  6. ↑ "Latest News 19th March 2007 - Bolter progress". Ockley Windmill. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  7. ↑ "Directory of Kent Mill People". The Mills Archive Trust. Retrieved 2008-04-17.

External links

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