1855
Smock mill built
Ore Down Mill was built at Ore as a smock mill.
Site overview
Ore Down Mill, also known as Black Mill, was a smock mill at Ore near Hastings. It stood at grid reference TQ83880 11710 and was built in 1855. The mill was associated with millers including Thomas, Amoore and Thomson, Noakes, Burfoot and Mills.
It had ceased full working life by the later nineteenth or early twentieth century and was demolished around 1917 or 1918. The surviving element is the base of the former 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
Ore Down Mill, also known as Black Mill, was built in 1855 at Ore in East Sussex. It was a smock mill and formed part of the group of windmills once standing around Ore and The Ridge. The mill was associated with several named millers or operators, including Thomas, Amoore and Thomson, Noakes, Burfoot and Mills.
Its working life had ended before the complete structure disappeared. The mill was demolished around 1917 or 1918, leaving only the lower fabric. The surviving base was still identifiable in the later twentieth century.
The site is therefore a fragmentary survival of a former nineteenth-century smock mill rather than a complete windmill.
Timeline
1890
Later working period
The mill remained associated with nineteenth-century milling at Ore into the later working period of the site.
1917–1918
Mill demolished
Ore Down Mill was demolished around 1917 or 1918.
1976–1977
Base survives
The base of the former smock mill survived into the later twentieth century.
Sources and records
Historymap windmills category entry
Sussex Mills Group windmill gazetteer
Guy Blythman Windmill Photographic Register
List of windmills in East Sussex
Sussex Mills Group windmill gazetteer
Guy Blythman Windmill Photographic Register
List of windmills in East Sussex