Smock mill
Encyclopedia
The smock mill is a type of windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

 that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This type of windmill got its name from its resemblance to smock
Smock-frock
A smock-frock or smock is an outer garment traditionally worn by rural workers, especially shepherds and waggoners, in parts of England and Wales from the early eighteenth century...

s worn by farmers in an earlier period.

Construction

Smock mills differ from tower mill
Tower mill
A tower mill is a type of windmill which consists of a brick or stone tower, on top of which sits a roof or cap which can be turned to bring the sails into the wind....

s, which are usually cylindrical rather than hexagonal or octagonal, and built from brick or stone masonry instead of timber. The majority of smock mills are octagonal in plan, with a lesser number hexagonal in plan, such as Killick's Mill, Meopham
Killick's Mill, Meopham
Killick's Mill is a Grade II* listed Smock mill in Meopham, Kent, England that was built in 1801 and which has been restored.-History:Killick's mill was built in 1801 by three brothers named Killick from Strood. Unusually, the mill is hexagonal in plan. Most smock mills are octagonal in plan...

. A very small number of smock mills were decagon
Decagon
In geometry, a decagon is any polygon with ten sides and ten angles, and usually refers to a regular decagon, having all sides of equal length and each internal angle equal to 144°...

al or dodecagon
Dodecagon
In geometry, a dodecagon is any polygon with twelve sides and twelve angles.- Regular dodecagon :It usually refers to a regular dodecagon, having all sides of equal length and all angles equal to 150°...

al in plan, an example of the latter being at Wicken
Wicken
Wicken may refer to:* Wicken, Cambridgeshire, England**Wicken Lode and Wicken Fen are nearby* Wicken, Northamptonshire, England* Wicken Bonhunt, a village in Essex, England...

, Cambridgeshire.

Distribution

Smock mills exist in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

 and particularly in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where they were common, particularly in the county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, where the tallest surviving smock mill in the United Kingdom, Union Mill
Union Mill, Cranbrook
Union Mill is a Grade I listed smock mill in Cranbrook, Kent, England which has been restored to working order. It is the tallest smock mill in the United Kingdom.-History:...

, can be found at Cranbrook
Cranbrook, Kent
Cranbrook is a small town in Kent in South East England which was granted a charter in 1290 by Archbishop Peckham, allowing it to hold a market in the High Street. Located on the Maidstone to Hastings road, it is five miles north of Hawkhurst. The smaller settlements of Swattenden, Colliers...

. They reached their heyday in the earlier part of the 19th century, after which the advent of steam power started the decline of the windmill.

Designed by the civil engineer John Smeaton
John Smeaton
John Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...

, Chimney Mill in Spital Tongues
Spital Tongues
Spital Tongues is a historic area of Newcastle upon Tyne, located north west of the city centre.Its unusual name is believed to be derived from 'spital' – a corruption of the word 'hospital' that is quite commonly found in UK place names - and 'tongues', meaning outlying pieces of land...

, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

was the first five-sailed smock mill in Britain. It was built in 1782 and is the only surviving smock mill in the North East region. However, the sails and original cap are no longer in place.

There is an operating smock mill on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Built in 1746 by Nathan Wilbur, a Nantucket sailor who had spent time in Holland, the "Old Mill" is the oldest functioning mill in the United States. It is the only surviving mill of the four smock mills that once stood on Popsquachet (windy hill in the Native American language of the Wampanoags) overlooking Nantucket town. Until late in the 19th century, there was a fifth Nantucket mill called "Round-Top Mill" on the site of the present New North Cemetery. The Old Mill was in deplorable condition when it was sold for twenty dollars in 1828 to Jared Gardner for use as "firewood." Instead of dismantling it, Gardner, a carpenter by trade, restored the mill to working condition making it capable once again of grinding corn. The mill was sold again in 1866 to John Francis Sylvia, a Portuguese miller of Azorean descent, who operated it for many years with his assistant Peter Hoy until it fell into disuse in 1892. In 1897, Miss Caroline French purchased the mill at an auction for $850 and donated it to the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA). The NHA restored it in 1937 and continues to maintain it, grind corn and guide tours of the mill during the summer and early autumn.
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