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Derelict base survives
The derelict base of the former smock mill survives at Barham.
Site overview
Black Mill, also known as Barham Downs Mill, was a smock corn mill at Barham. It is recorded at TR 214 510 and was built in 1834. The mill formed one of several windmill sites in and around Barham, where both earlier post mills and later smock mills are recorded.
Black Mill was destroyed by fire on 3 March 1970, leaving the base. Modern windmill records identify the survival as a derelict base. The site now represents the lower remains of the former smock mill rather than a complete working windmill.
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
Black Mill at Barham, also known as Barham Downs Mill, was a nineteenth-century smock mill. It was built in 1834 and stood at TR 214 510. The mill formed part of a wider Barham windmill landscape that included earlier post mills and other smock mills on or near Barham Downs.
The mill's main surviving recorded event is its destruction by fire on 3 March 1970. The fire ended the survival of the complete smock mill, leaving the base. Later windmill records describe the remains as a derelict base that still marks the site. Black Mill is therefore a reduced but identifiable survival: the working windmill has gone, but the base preserves the location and lower structure of a former Barham smock corn mill.
Timeline
1834
Smock mill built
Black Mill, also known as Barham Downs Mill, was built as a smock mill at Barham.
1970
Mill destroyed by fire
The smock mill burnt down on 3 March 1970.
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