CRANBROOK, UNION WINDMILL RESTORATION

• Cranbrook Windmill

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The Mill was restored to working order in 2002 - 2004 as part of a countywide project using funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Kent County Council.

The work was carried out by millwrights from IJP Building Conservation Ltd of Henley on Thames. First the metal stocks, erected in the late 1950s by the Dutch millwrights, were removed, together with the fantail. Then, the cap of the mill was removed by a giant crane, placed on the trailer of a large lorry and transported back to Henley. On site, the mill was scaffolded to allow the framing to be repaired and the weatherboarding to be renewed.

The cap was repaired at the millwrights' yard. New sheers and a new fan stage were fitted, and the rest of the framing repaired. New timber sweeps and midlings, to a traditional design, were manufactured. The whole was then transported back to Kent, re-erected and tested.

The mill under repair by Dutch millwrights, 1959