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Corn milling continued
The four-sailed smock mill worked into the 1920s and was later associated with G. Crampton.
Site overview
Sissinghurst Mill, also known as Crampton's Mill and Hope Mill, was a smock corn mill at Sissinghurst in Kent. The mill was built in the nineteenth century and became associated with Mill Farm and the Crampton family. It was a four-sailed smock mill and remained a local landmark after working ceased.
The mill worked until the 1920s, after which its sails were removed. By the mid twentieth century the timber structure had become unsafe, and the mill was demolished in 1951. The site is now represented by surviving remains and the associated Mill Farm landscape.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
Sissinghurst Mill stood at Mill Farm, Sissinghurst, and is recorded under several names, including Crampton's Mill and Hope Mill. One account of the Mill Farm property records that Samuel Jenner built the house and windmill in the summer and autumn of 1840, with the mill then known as Hope Mill. Other mill archive material records Crampton's Mill as built in 1843. Historic photographic records also describe the smock mill as having been moved from Hartley near Cranbrook and re-erected at Sissinghurst in 1839. The early history therefore preserves more than one nineteenth-century account, but all place the mill within the mid nineteenth-century development of the Mill Farm site.
The mill was a smock corn mill and worked with four sails. It became associated with the Crampton name through later ownership and use. The last owner to use it was G. Crampton, and the mill continued working until the 1920s. Historic England photographic material records it working until 1926, with its sails removed in 1928. The loss of the sails marked the end of its recognisable working windmill form, but the smock body remained standing as a local landmark.
By 1951 the mill had become unsafe. A contemporary account of the demolition describes the rotten timber structure collapsing when pulled down by a traction engine. The loss removed one of Sissinghurst's visible windmill landmarks, though the site and associated Mill Farm buildings continued to preserve the memory of the former corn mill. The site is best recorded as the former Sissinghurst smock mill, with Crampton's Mill and Hope Mill as historically evidenced alternative names.
Timeline
1839–1843
Smock mill established at Sissinghurst
The smock corn mill was established at Sissinghurst in the early 1840s, with records describing construction at Mill Farm and re-erection from Hartley near Cranbrook.
1840
Hope Mill name recorded
Mill Farm records identify the mill as Hope Mill in connection with Samuel Jenner's development of the house and windmill.
1928
Sails removed
The sails were removed after the mill had ceased working.
1951
Mill demolished
The unsafe timber smock mill was pulled down in 1951 after becoming rotten and derelict.
Sources and records
Mills Archive catalogue entry: Crampton's Mill, Sissinghurst, Cranbrook, Kent
Historic England Archive image description: Crampton's Mill, Sissinghurst
Windmill World entry: Sissinghurst windmill, Kent
Mill Farm Sissinghurst owners and occupiers document
Historic England Archive image description: Crampton's Mill, Sissinghurst
Windmill World entry: Sissinghurst windmill, Kent
Mill Farm Sissinghurst owners and occupiers document