Ripple Smock Mill - Dover Road, Ripple, Kent, CT14 8HD. - Windmills on Waymarking.com

Ripple's Smock Mill -  The given co-ords are for the Mill, but it is a private residence, and as such, should be respected.  The are nice views of the Mill from surrounding road, but our favourite viewing spot is at N51 11.332, E001 22.580, after a short stroll along a footpath starting in Church Lane, Ringwould.

Although evidence shows a windmill has been on this site since 1695, the present Ripple Mill was built around 1815.  Unusual for Kent, Ripple Smock Mill has it's lower brick storey set within an earth mound, once serving as a reefing stage. As with many costal windmills, Ripple Mill was used by seaman as navigation markers, in this case those navigating the English Channel would keep Kingsdown Church inline with Ripple Mill to ensure they past the southern point of the treacherous Goodwin Sands. So important was it as a navigation marker, in 1895 Trinity House contributed a substantial amount towards the repairs needed to the mill at that time. There is still much speculation that this smock mill was moved from Drellingore near Folkestone, and there is certainly a surviving cant post that had been sawn lengthways, and now bolted together. However, no documentation has yet been found to corroborate either the existence of a windmill at Drellingore, or a move of it to this location.

    

             c.1955                              c.1986

Ripple Mill was known to be working during WW2, but by 1947 that had obviously changed. Records show that in that year the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings decided not to issue an appeal to restore the mill due to " lack of local support". It appears to have lay redundant until it was purchased by Rediffusion Ltd in 1955, but this only saw all the mills internal machinery being removed, along the cap, whilst the smock became festooned with aerials and used as a TV repeater station until 1976.  The present owner purchased, in all reality, a large storage shed, but with almost 2 decades of tremendously hard work and dedication, Ripple Smock Mill is back to working order, albeit in private hands.

Purpose: Milling Open to the public: no Is This Windmill Functional?: Yes! Windmill Farm: no Museum on Site: no Date of Manufacture: Not listed Cost: Not Listed

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