Listed Building record MDR4955 - Heage Windmill, off School Lane, Ripley

Heage Windmill, off School Lane, Ripley, a late 18th century building. Heage Mill, probably built 1850. In use until 1919. Restored 1969-72. (1) 'Large stone tower mill, restored and owned by DCC. Six sails, 4 floors including a basement. Internal diameter at ground level is 19ft, the walls are 2' 9" thick, of cut sandstone blocks. It was last used in c1920. The cap was re-roofed, and it was given two new floors and ladders in 1967.' (2) Heage Windmill. A large sandstone tower mill owned by Derbyshire County Council, restored in the 1970s with a new metal cap and renovated sails. It is the only intact stone tower mill in the county. It has four floors including a basement, with an inside diameter at ground level of 19 feet. The cut coal measures sandstone block walls are 2ft 9ins thick. The present structure dates from the 1870s and was last used on a commercial basis in about 1920. (3) The earliest known reference to the mill is an advertisement of June 16 1791: 'Heage windmill to be erected, any mason inclined to undertake the stone building to attend at the mill, all materials laid down in place'. In September 1798 it was advertised for let: 'To be let, complete smock mill with fantail, two pairs of stones, good dressing machine - made to plans approved by Mr Wass - standing in good situation at Heage'. Tower mills were commonly called smock mills in Derbyshire. Although the mill has a stone plaque by the entrance door marked 'WSM 1850', the two early advertisements show that the 1850 datestone does not represent the date the mill was built. A small stone building alongside the mill was used for the kiln, although the roof had fallen in during the 1960s. In 1850 the brothers Isaac and Joseph Shore purchased the mill. A photograph of c1870 shows the windmill fitted with four sails. The mill was later rebuilt with six patent sails, presumably to obtain more power. Three brick columns in the cellar were added in about 1910 to provide additional support to the floor beams and machinery in the mill above. These have since been removed. The mill continued in regular use until 1919, when the fantail was severely damaged in a gale. The mill was closed down and became increasingly derelict. However, it was restored in the late 1960s and new sails were hoisted in 1972. A further major programme of work was undertaken from the mid 1990s. The completed mill was formally opened in May 2002, with the remains of the old kiln having been rebuilt and fitted out as a visitor centre. It is the only working windmill in the county. (4) Last used for commercial purposes in about 1920. (5) 'The original windmill stood not on this site but in the middle of the Common. A Tithe barn, only a gable, and a 'Green Lane' entrance road remaining, stands almost opposite Ridgeway Hospital. This windmill would have ground the corn for the Great Field, and also the Town Field, for centuries.' (6) From the National Heritage List for England: 'SK 35 SE RIPLEY DUNGLEY HILL, Nether Heage (north side) 3/82 Heage Windmill 29.11.65 GV II* Tower windmill. Early C19, restored 1971-3. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. Circular in plan, tapering to top. 3 storeys. Plain flush doorcases to east and west with plank doors and 2-light glazing bar casements in flush surrounds to north and south. Similar windows over the 2 doors and to south. Similar window above again to south. Ogee domed metal cap with 6 sails and tail gearing opposite, containing dome to curb, wind shaft with brakewheel and wall over to main shaft which drives 2 sets of grinding stones. Floors and hoists also intact. Source: F Nixon, 'Industrial Archaeology of Derbyshire'. Listing NGR: SK3669150783.' (7)