Westdene Windmill | |
Name Of Mill: | Westdene Mill |
Operator: | Private |
Built: | 1885 |
Purpose: | Corn mill |
Type: | Tower mill |
Storeys: | Four storeys |
Sail Number: | Four sails |
Sail Type: | Spring Patent sails |
Windshaft: | cast iron |
Winding: | Fantail |
Fantail Blades: | Five blades |
Waterhall Mill, also known as Westdene Windmill, is a grade II listed tower mill at Westdene, Sussex, England which has been converted to residential use.
Waterhall Mill was built in 1885 by James Holloway, the Shoreham millwright. It was the last windmill built in Sussex, and was working until 1924. In World War II it was used by the Home Guard as a lookout post.[1] The mill was converted into a house in 1963, retaining the machinery and externally restored. New sweeps (Sussex dialect for sails) were erected in 1972 The cap was partly rebuilt and new sweeps erected following a lightning strike in December 1990.[2]
Waterhall Mill is a four-storey brick tower mill with a domed cap winded by a five-bladed fantail. It had four Spring Patent sails carried on a cast iron Windshaft. The iron Brake Wheel is fitted with Holloways screw brake. The mill drove three pairs of underdrift millstones.
The tower is 19feet diameter at the base and 13feet diameter at the curb, having an overall height to 40feet to the curb.
Book: Hemming, Peter. 1936. Windmills in Sussex. C W Daniel. London. Online version