Inspection of the timbers of the mill has revealed both good and bad news. The main supporting timbers (side girts) are less rotted than feared and, with simple steel straps and plates across a couple of cracks, should last at least another 100 years. The corner upright posts have all suffered quite badly with the constant ingress of water and all need attention. It looks, though, that we will not need to replace them as the millwright has a plan to cut 50mm from their outer faces and ‘plate’ them with new green oak to give the required strength and surface on which to attach the new weatherboards.
What was not expected and is the cause of significant extra work was the condition of the main horizontal weather beam that supports the wind shaft holding the sails. So much rot has occurred at its ends that it is no longer securely attached to the corner posts and has tilted forward under the weight of the sails. The sails have had to be removed, the wind shaft propped up and the weather beam removed. The repair to the weather beam will require the addition of a steel joist to give real strength to the structure.
Tony Andrews has taken photos of the removal of the sails. See them here. The unexpected damage has pushed the total repair estimate up to £118,000 but having granted the project £15,729 towards costs before discovery of the extra work, Historic England’s funding committee reconsidered the position and agreed to increase the grant to around 70% of the requirement. Together with the Sponsor a Board money, other grants and contributions, there is now have sufficient to complete the structural repairs and make the mill weatherproof once more. This will remove it from Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ listing and return it to its position as a public attraction.
On Sunday 14th October, and quite co-incidentally the morning after archaeologist Carenza Lewis’ talk on local history, 51 keen metal ‘detectorists’ of the East Coast Searchers group gathered on Tom Duke’s field on the Little Chishill Road to see what evidence they could find of our predecessors. Klaine Feagan is currently working on the repair of our windmill and came up with the idea of bringing his colleagues to see what they could unearth that would add detail to Chishill’s long and varied history. The group is based around Manningtree though one couple had travelled from Padstow, Cornwall to join in!
Tom kindly agreed to them using his 40-acre field, the sun shone and everyone had a grand time. At the end of the day, Sue Clark, Chair of the East Coast Searchers, said that it had been a very productive and enjoyable event. As well as ancient buckles, clasps, musket balls, spinning weights and buttons, a well-preserved wax seal stamp was found. Coins were also numerous, including a fine looking Roman piece thought to be from the reign of Constantius II ‘ AD 337 to 361.
The group kindly donated some of their finds to the Windmill Trust for display in the mill. They, and Tom Duke, generously waived all expenses and charges donating all proceeds to the windmill restoration:a magnificent £792.50!
Pictures of finds and of the day: below
