Stembridge Mill, High Ham

Infobox Historic building


caption=Stembridge Tower Mill (photo by Patrick Mackie)
name=Stembridge Tower Mill
location_town=High Ham
location_country=England
map_type=Somerset
latitude= 51.0765
longitude= -2.8203
architect=
client=John Sherrin
engineer=
construction_start_date=
completion_date=1822
date_demolished=
cost=
structural_system=
style=Tower mill
size=

Stembridge Tower Mill in High Ham, Somerset, England is the last remaining thatched windmill in England. It is the last survivor of five windmills that once existed in the area.cite book |title=Curiosities of Somerset |last=Leete-Hodge |first=Lornie |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1985 |publisher=Bossiney Books |location=Bodmin |isbn=0906456983 |pages=84 ]

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. The advantage of the tower mill over the earlier post mill is that it is not necessary to turn the whole mill ("body", "buck") with all its machinery into the wind; this allows more space for the machinery as well as for storage.

In the earliest tower mills the cap was turned into the wind with a long tail-pole which stretched down to the ground at the back of the mill. Later an endless chain was used which drove the cap through gearing as is used at Stembridge.

Constructed in 1822, including parts from the earlier Ham Mill which stood nearby,cite book |title=Windmills of Somerset and the men who worked them |last=Coulthard |first=Alfred J. |authorlink= |coauthors=Martin Watts |year=1978 |publisher=Research Publishing Co|location=London |isbn=0705000605 |pages=49-51 ] it was damaged by storms and left running via steam by 1897/8 and last used commercially in 1910. In 1969 Professor H. H. Bellot left the windmill, cottage and garden to the National Trust in his will. The mill has four floors, a thatched cap and is constructed of local limestone known in the area as Blue Lias. [British History Online, 2004. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15109#n288/ Victoria County History] .]

The first miller was John Sherring.

The remains of the old bakehouse can still be see to the rear of the mill.

The mill has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building. [cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=263124 |title=Stembridge Mill |accessdate=2008-03-03 |format= |work=Images of England ]

References

External links

* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-stembridgetowermill/ Stembridge Tower Mill information at The National Trust]