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Base converted to house
The surviving smock mill base was converted into a house.
Site overview
Great Mill, also known as Union Mill, was a smock corn mill at Appledore. The mill is recorded at TQ 953 304 and was built in 1791. It formed one of Appledore's former wind-powered milling sites, distinct from the post mills also recorded in the village.
The smock mill was demolished in 1909, but its base survived and was later converted into a house. The surviving fabric is therefore a domestic conversion of the lower part of the former mill rather than a complete working smock mill. Its remaining base preserves the location and lower structure of Appledore's late eighteenth-century smock mill.
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
Great Mill at Appledore, also known as Union Mill, was a late eighteenth-century smock corn mill. It was built in 1791 and stood at TQ 953 304, forming part of a cluster of wind-powered sites in and around Appledore. The village also had earlier post mills, including Horne Place Mill and Court Lodge Mill, but Great Mill was a smock mill with its own separate recorded site.
The mill continued as a recognisable windmill into the twentieth century. It was demolished in 1909, ending its survival as a full smock mill. The base, however, remained and was later incorporated into domestic use. Windmill records identify the surviving fabric as the former smock mill base, converted as part of a house. The site is therefore a reduced but physical survival rather than a wholly lost windmill, preserving the lower fabric and footprint of one of Appledore's historic corn mills.
Timeline
1791
Smock mill built
Great Mill, also known as Union Mill, was built at Appledore as a smock mill.
1909
Mill demolished
The smock mill was demolished in 1909.
Sources and records
Windmill World site entry
List of windmills in Kent
Jenny West, The Windmills of Kent
Coles Finch, Watermills and Windmills
List of windmills in Kent
Jenny West, The Windmills of Kent
Coles Finch, Watermills and Windmills