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Site of Findon Windmill in 1996 — only the Mill House survives |
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
THE END OF THE FINDON WINDMILL STORY
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Site of Findon Windmill in 1996 — only the Mill House survives |
Copyright Valerie Martin 1997
First published in the West Sussex Gazette, 6th March, l997
I can reveal that slight tangible evidence remains to indicate exactly where the Findon Windmill once proudly surveyed the countryside. The Mill Cottages on the slope below and to the west of the windmill have vanished leaving no trace in the field where they stood.
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The Mill Cottages (on the left) and the Mill House and windmill site (on the right) early in the twentieth century. Chanctonbury Ring is in the background. |
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Photograph of the Mill Cottages c. 1930 |
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and again c. 1939 when the extreme right dwelling appears to have been demolished. |
The crumbling original flint boundary wall of the mill and an old brick pier are witnesses to the site of the Windmill. Perhaps a dressed mill stone lies hidden. The chute from the outside ground level to the cellar of the Mill House has been glazed. The miller’s oven in the cellar has been bricked over and plastered — only a couple of alcoves remain to indicate that it had once been a working place.
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Findon Windmill site from the ramparts of Cissbury Ring, 1997. |
The flint tunnel from the cellar to the mill stands bare — echoing the footsteps of the bygone millers as they toiled.
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The entrance to the tunnel from the windmill. |
A curved flint wall stands at the foot of the steps which some would like to think could have conceivably snugly fitted the roundhouse. On the other hand, in dry summers it has been reported that an indistinct circular shape appears on the grass where the windmill once graced the landscape. Some would say this was the site of the roundhouse. Sceptics shake their heads and say that was the spot where a previous owner excavated for a cesspit and this spoils the fanciful illusion.
Continue if you would like to read The Elusive Windmill and help me with my investigations on the Findon Windmill.
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
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