High Salvington Mill Trust Ltd.

Registered Charity No 1090637

MILLER'S TALK

There are now two Windmills on the our Mill site. They both are of the same basic post mill build but differ in size and the job they do. They are built using a post with supporting structure, a trestle, to hold them up and a working body (or buck) on top of the post allowing movement round the post to turn the sails (or sweeps) to face into the wind.

A classification of Mills covers two main types of ‘energy provider’, Wind and Water, concerning the way they obtain their power source. Energy use will cover a multitude of ‘working actions’; Grinding, Pumping, Heavy Hammer Forging, Sawing, Sugar Cane Pulping, Pulverising etc. There are other types of Mill which include Roller Mills for grain and flour graded products, and was one of the main reasons for the decline in ‘local’ wind or water Mill use. Ball Mills are used for creating fine powders of; slate, coal, clay, and chalk etc. These ‘working actions’ would later derive their power source from other types of ‘energy provider’ such as, steam or electricity for instance.  

The Grinding Wind Mill

The larger of the two High Salvington Mills is an early post windmill of around 1750 using wind as the ‘energy provider’. It uses the millstones as the ‘working action’ for grinding wheat grain into bread flour, and/or, oats combined with peas/beans into meal, for animal feed. The wind power from the sails turns the wooden wind shaft and attached internal brake and tail wheels, each about 10 feet (3m) diameter. When grinding the gear teeth of these large wheels engage with the metal teeth of a stone nut, linking with and turning each runner stone, thus performing the grinding ‘working action’, producing flour or meal. The whole grain stone ground flour will produce brown bread but if passed through our wire machine (sieve) becomes two finer grades of flour, making progressively whiter bread, without the separated and remaining usable bran (the grain covering).

This working Mill requires regular maintenance particularly to all bearing surfaces such as; post pintle to crown tree surface, post wood wear, wind shaft breast and tail bearings, each runner stone bearing and shims, runner stone lifting gear and levers, governors, brake levers trains pulleys and ropes, steps lifting chains and talthur lever. The position and considerable weight of the stones and the driving wheels and shafts, relies on the build and support of the Mill around them being in good repair too.

The body (or buck) and the Sail (sweep) assemblies are a very large and inaccessible areas to paint, to keep large amounts of driving rain out of the main structure. The round house needs regular water proofing with tar on the sloping surfaces to deal with the water from the structures above, and the vertical walls are ‘caulked’ between the boards and tarred.

The Wind Pump, the smaller one, is a restored 1900+ hollow-post wind pump, and was used at Glynde to pump water for a steam engine providing power to a rope-way of buckets, carrying gault clay from the pit to the railway trucks.

This has the same smaller structure except with a square hollow post to allow the pump rod to drive the pump through and below it. This structure is supported on a set of three (quarry) rails formed into trestle but without cross-tree type links as in the main Mill. These rails have bolted extensions each one being embedded into a substantial concrete block.

The body (or buck) is more open, housing a wind shaft that carries a set of wooden sails outside for wind power, with, inside a gear on the steel wind shaft connecting to the crank shaft, which drives the pump rod round as well as up and down.

The whole of the body of the wind pump is manually turned into the wind with a loosely attached tail pole that keeps the mill sails into the prevailing wind.

The pump worked for long periods at a time in all weathers without much maintenance, being protected by only a rudimentary casing covering the main metal gears and shafts. A removable sloping top allows pump shaft bearing and gear train greasing and shaft removal, if necessary. The general construction was put together from materials mainly found within the working quarry area but it did the required job. After a working life of around five years the original unit endured some twenty five years just standing in all weathers, with the post unit still remaining in tact.

DO come and see these Mills, we look forward to showing you our work this 2008 Open Season.

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