Herne Windmill

Herne Windmill

Herne Windmill
46 Windmill Road
Herne Bay
Canterbury
Kent
CT6 7DF

Tel: 01227 361 326

Web: Herne Windmill

About Herne Windmill

Herne Windmill stands on a site that has had a mill for 600 years according to ancient Canterbury and County records. This relatively recent traditional Kentish *Smock Mill stands on a high down overlooking the village of Herne and its playing field, the 'Cherry Orchard', on the outskirts of the seaside town of Herne Bay, in Kent.

(*The name smock mill comes from the appearance of the mill (from a distance) resembling a peasant wearing a smock. Tower mills, like Herne Mill, have the cap (the shape like an unturned boat on the top) rotate on a solid base; the other type of mill, a Post Mill, has the whole mill rotating around a central post.)
Herne Mill is equipped with three pairs of millstones: two pairs of French Burrs and a pair of Derbyshire Peak Stones. The refurbished sweeps (or sails) shown in the image here have only half the number of shutters of the original mill. In case you wondered, the sails turn anti-clockwise and it's surprisingly quiet inside the mill when the brake is off and the sweeps are turning.

The present windmill has been in place since 1789 (when France had its Revolution) and was built by the miller Job Lawrance. The mill remained in the Lawrance family for a century until 1879 when it was bought by one Thomas Wootton. It was still used for milling of cereal grains until the turn of the 19th century.

The Wootton family continued its ownership, milling animal feed by wind power until 1952, then by electricity with a flail mill until 1980.