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Base converted to house
The surviving smock mill base was converted into a house.
Site overview
Kingsnorth Mill was a smock corn mill at Kingsnorth, south of Ashford. It was built in 1878 and stood as one of the village's wind-powered corn mills. The mill was still standing in 1892 but had been demolished by 1933, leaving the base.
The surviving base was later converted into a house. Specialist mill records identify the structure as a smock mill base in domestic use, preserving the lower fabric of the former windmill rather than a complete cap, sails, smock body, windshaft, or machinery.
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
Kingsnorth Mill was a smock corn mill at Kingsnorth. It was built in 1878 and formed part of the late nineteenth-century wind-powered milling landscape south of Ashford. The mill is distinct from Millbank Place Mill, another windmill site recorded in the parish.
The smock mill was standing in 1892, but by 1933 it had been demolished, leaving its base. The surviving lower structure was later adapted for domestic use and is recorded in specialist mill records as a house-converted smock mill base. The working elements of the mill, including cap, sails, smock body, windshaft, stones, and gearing, have gone.
Kingsnorth Mill now survives only through its converted base. The structure retains the footprint and lower fabric of the former windmill, preserving a reduced but identifiable element of Kingsnorth's wind-powered corn-milling history.
Timeline
1878
Smock mill built
Kingsnorth Mill was built in 1878 as a smock corn mill.
1892
Mill still standing
The smock mill was recorded as standing in 1892.
1933
Mill demolished by 1933
The smock mill had been demolished by 1933, leaving the base.
Sources and records
Windmill World site entry
List of windmills in Kent
Mills Archive catalogue references
List of windmills in Kent
Mills Archive catalogue references