Guide for Guides (Dec. 2019)

INFORMATION FOR GUIDES

Background

1. The mill is reputed to have been built around 1756 although one is shown in the area on Budgen's map of Durrington dated 1724.
2. The mill is a post mill – i.e. the body or buck rests on, and turns about, the post.
3. It is possibly the oldest mill in West Sussex, and until the 1974 boundary changes it was the only post mill in W. Sussex, at which time Jill, Oldland, and Lowfield Heath mills were included. However, Lowfield Heath is now in Surrey.
4. West Sussex County Council were keen to preserve High Salvington (a post mill) together with Halnaker (a tower mill), Shipley (a smock mill), and West Ashling (a combined Water and Windmill).
5. Our mill is the last of 8 mills around Worthing. Others were:

• Cissbury or Broadwater Mill, on the southern slopes of Cissbury.
• Cross Street Mill - initially by Worthing Central Station, but later moved to East Worthing.
• Highdown Post Mill - worked by John Olliver (Millers tomb).
• Highdown Tower Mill - now converted into a house on the Western slope of Highdown Hill.
• Navarino Mills - 2 mills (a smock and a tower mill) on Ham Road towards the sea.
• Heene Mill - South West of the junction of Grand Avenue and Mill Road. It was the oldest mill site in Worthing.

6. At High Salvington the miller’s cottage stood where our main gate is now located, but was demolished in1966 by Worthing Borough Council.
7. The mill ceased to work commercially around 1897, after around 150 years.
8. In 1959, the Worthing Borough Council bought the Mill for £2250.
9. During the 1960's some structural repairs were carried out by Edwin Hole, millwrights.
10. In 1976 a dummy sail blew off in a gale and the mill was found to be structurally unsafe.
11. Also in 1976, the High Salvington Mill Trust was formed to investigate the possibilities of preserving the mill with later possibilities of fully restoring the mill.
12. In 1984, for the first time since it had ceased working, the mill was officially turned on its post by local astronomer Patrick Moore.
13. In the summer of 1987, the first pair of sweeps (the common sails) were erected.
14. In October 1987 the single pair of sails turned unaided during the night of the hurricane. Slight damage occurred to the main steps, and a hairline fracture was made over one horn at the bottom of the post, which had to be replaced.
15. During the summer of 1988 the spring shutter sails were erected.
16. During 1990 the concrete roundhouse was demolished and a new wooden one built to the appearance of the one in existence in 1897.
17. On 4th April 1991 the stones were set in motion to produce the first meal (flour) since 1897.
18. During 1993 the granary was purchased from an estate farm near East Grinstead and restored as a feature and for grain storage.
19. In 1997 a grant of £28,000 from the National Lottery was awarded to the mill which enabled the “Long Barn” to be built with additional volunteer labour valued at some £30,000.
20. During 1999/2000 the gatehouse was erected to be used as a shop and entrance office, but has since been altered to provide facilities for the mill archive and exhibitions.
21. During 2007 the Beddingham (or Glynde) wind water-pump was acquired in a very dilapidated state and was restored to pump water on the site.
22. The wind Engine and wind generator were obtained from Nutley in 2013. They were in many pieces and it was not realised at first that there were two mills rather than just one.

TOUR OF THE MILL

1. The Roundhouse.

The Wooden Roundhouse was replaced in 1907 by a concrete building for use as a tearoom. The present roundhouse was built in 1990 and is similar to the one demolished in 1907. In its original form the mill may have had an open trestle.

The Post - 21'6” (6.6 meters) solid single oak tree is original, which was probably a sapling when Elizabeth 1st was on the throne. Some posts were made from baulk of timber and bound together with bands. This one has fine 18th century iron bands to stop the post from splitting apart. Note the post does not rest on the ground nor on the cross trees, but is suspended from the quarterbars as part of the trestle.

The Trestle - Replaced in 1981 and is made from Douglas Fir, replacing a previous softwood trestle (probably not itself original)

2. The Buck.

The Buck or Body of the mill turns on the oak post which is supported by the trestle seen in the roundhouse. The mill is turned manually (reputedly by the miller's daughter) by means of the tail pole. The steps which act as the anchor of the mill, are raised by the talthur. The path trod is called the turning circle, and although this is currently paved, it should be loose soil in order to form a brake against the mill turning.

The mill should always have the "sweeps" to the wind, as they are impellors and therefore push against the mill. This is to prevent “tailwinding” which would cause damage and also prevents driving rain from penetrating the buck.

The height from ground level to the top of the buck is approximately 38 feet (12 metres).

3. The Sails or Sweeps

The Sweeps are fixed to the front end of the windshaft by means of a cast iron canister, or “poll end”. The stocks are located and wedged into the canister and the whips are then bolted to the stocks. The overall diameter is 58 feet (18 meters), and the weight of the timber in the sails is around 3 tons They were balanced before being assembled on the mill, with minor corrections once in place.

There is one pair of "Common" sails, which have the frame covered with canvas, and one pair of "Spring Shutter" sails. The shutters are wooden boards actuated by a long shutter bar which operates them all together and is held shut by a large leaf spring. If the wind gets too strong, the boards open against the action of the spring, which acts as a regulator.

The sails need to turn in excess of ten revolutions (or 40 ends) per minute in order to achieve a satisfactory grinding speed at the stones.

4. The Spout Floor. (1st Floor)

This floor is where the miller normally works in order to control the mill and the stones. This is also where the meal spouts come down from the stones on the floor above.

Crown Tree

The top of the post connects to the crown tree via a cast iron bearing called a Samson Head, which supports the whole weight of the buck. The crown tree is solid oak, weighed 2 tons when new, and cost £1200, when it was replaced in 1982.

The tentering gear which is operated from here allows the miller to manually alter the gap (nip) between the stones, if the quality of the flour meal requires adjustment. The tentering gear is operated by a system of levers and a screw adjustment. The stone governors automatically adjust the nip as the wind force changes, to maintain the flour quality at varying wind speeds.

5. The Stone Floor (2nd floor)

There are 2 pairs of stones driven directly by the windshaft, in a "Head and Tail" configuration.

The breast stones are of Derbyshire millstone grit, quarried as whole stones in the Peak District. These were mainly used for grinding animal feed as they tend to be more suited for larger grains, peas, beans etc. However, they are now used for milling our flour.

The tail stones are French Burr stones made of pieces of hard quartz mined near Paris, bound with iron bands, and set in plaster of Paris. They are used mainly to grind grain into meal or flour for human consumption.

Dressing the stones - is the term used for cutting the radial grooves furrows) into the grinding surface of the stones. Over time, the runner stone becomes concave which means that the main grinding action takes place nearer the edges.

At the outer edge of the stones the gap (nip) becomes very small - only a few thousandths of an inch.

The grain is fed into the eye of the top (runner) stone which rotates anti- clockwise.

The furrows are cut in a “tick” shape to allow the grain to move towards the outer edge. As the back of the “tick” is upright, the grain has to move up the slope, and the bran gets ground off by the runner stone, as it passes the ‘lands’ (the flat and highest point).

For grinding, the stones rotate at between 100 and 140 rpm and must not touch, as they could spark and ignite the flour dust. Fire was the most usual cause of destruction of mills.

The flour meal is warm when it is thrown out from the stones, where it is scooped into the flour spout and falls down to the meal bins on the spout floor below.

The Brake Wheel' which was made by The Friends over a period of 8 years from start to installation, is 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter, is of clasp-arm design, and wedged on to the windshaft. It is made from 3 woods: Oak for the spokes or clasp-arms; Elm for the rim or felloes; Apple for the cogs. There are 136 teeth, which are individually fitted in their own mortices and pinned at the back.

The Band Brake around the brake wheel is 30 feet (9 meters) long, and is operated by the large brake lever.

The Tail Wheel is a compass arm wheel of 8 feet (5.3 meters) diameter, with 80 cogs. The design is now rare as the spokes radiate from the windshaft. The wheel is very old and almost certainly original.

The Wire Machine is a grader driven by the tail wheel. Flour is graded and falls into 3 chutes which have sacks attached on the spout floor below. It was built by the volunteers in 1985/6 using photos of the original one.

Sack Hoists (2) can be seen above the trap doors beside the brake wheel, and in the apex of the roof. These are driven by friction drives off the tail wheel.

The hoist at the rear of the mill lifts sacks of flour from the spout floor to the bin floor, the other lifts grain from the roundhouse to the stone floor.

Output. The maximum output of meal is approximately 1 cwt (50kilos) per hour with a powerful consistent wind. However, our millers once decided to grind during a howling gale. On that occasion they produced 1 cwt in just twenty minutes. A strong gale is perhaps not a wise time to grind!

Our normal grain is purchased through a local dealer and is grown in the south of England. Initially we used a mixture of Canadian and English because English grain was soft but English farms have since begun to grow harder varieties.

The wholemeal flour produced at High Salvington is unbleached and does not contain any preservatives.

6. The Bin Floor (Do not let the public go up)

This is a small platform floor with bins at the rear of the mill above the ladder, where the bins hold the grain, wholemeal flour or meal, awaiting grading.

7. The Windshaft.

The windshaft is rare as it is a single oak tree (original), which holds the two large driving wheels. The shaft is inclined about 10 % towards the breast of the mill and rests on a neck bearing. The end of the windshaft protrudes out of the front of the mill and has fixed to it the cast iron canister or poll end, into which the sweep stocks are fitted .

8. The Granary

The granary, which is considered to be 18th or early 19th century, was acquired from a farm at Kingscote, East Grinstead in 1993. It was brought to the site by road.

Restoration took place over the next year. The steddal stones with their mushroom tops and the inward folding steps prevent vermin from entering the building, where corn is stored. The three rear steddal stones are new replacements, made from the same seams of rock from which the old ones came.

9. The Beddingham Wind Water pump (known as the Glynde wind pump)

The Glynde or Beddingham wind pump was acquired in 2007. It was built around the middle of the 19th century to drain water from flooded lime kilns, between the river and railway lines at Beddingham. It was crudely made using materials to hand, including GWR wrought iron railway line as legs.

The Dando “O” pump is not original, but of the type used to drain trenches in WW1.

10. Wind Engine and wind generator

Both of these were obtained from Nutley in 2013. They were in many pieces and it was not realised at first that there were two mills rather than just one.

Wind Engine

The original 44-foot mast was reduced in size, and the current masts for this and the wind generator were made from it.

The wind engine is a Hercules oil-bath wind engine with an 8-foot diameter fan. Many items were missing and the team of volunteers needed to research and make new parts. We have recently acquired a well pump which we hope to fit beneath the pump and have it working.

Wind Generator

This had been mounted on top of the wind engine when the latter fell out of use. A 6-foot diameter two-bladed wooden impeller drives a Lucas 24V DC lorry generator. It is capable of very high speeds. The output lights up a series of bulbs in the control box. The faster the impeller, the higher the output, generating 120 watts with all bulbs lit.

Funding

Other than specific applications for project grants, all income is derived from open days and special events, run exclusively by volunteers and from donations.