Drapers Mill
Also known as Silverhill Mill and Tivoli Mill, this mill stood off Sedlescombe Road South and gives its name to Windmill Road. It is sometimes reported that there was a post mill on the site in 1813, but the mill in question was actually at Salehurst, and also known as Silverhill Mill. The original Tivoli Mill was one of the West Hill windmills, a Smock Mill[1], French's Mill, removed from the West Hill in 1838 by John Reed Harmer. A mill was shown on mapping in this area as the 'Tivoli Mill' in 1813 but this is possibly a different mill.
Charles Manser Thorpe had the mill from the end of 1845, then in 1849, William Draper purchased the mill, it remaining in the Draper family for 120 years. The mill had many of its wooden components replaced by metal during 1862, but destroyed by fire in 1865 [2]. In 1868 a further mill was constructed on the site, having sufficient power to drive three pairs of Burr stones and one pair of Peak stones (although it is reported that there were up to five pairs of stones in use)[3], ending its life in 1941 when the sails were secured and falling into dereliction.
The owners did offer the mill to the corporation for preservation in 1951 - one of the Draper family being a sometime Mayor of Hastings[4]. Damage caused by a gale in 1961 to the cap roof furthered the ruination[3], and the mill was finally demolished in 1966[1], Hastings losing its last surviving mill.
Images
- Images
Pondswood Map 1900
Drapers-Mill-at-Silverhill-c1902.
Silverhill-Windmill-Windmill-Road.-1905.
Drapers-Windmill-Windmill-Drive-off-Sedlescombe-Road-South.-1906.
Drapers-Mill-Sedlescombe-Road-South-Silverhill-1910
Drapers-Windmill-Windmill-Road-Silverhill-St-Leonards.-1961.
Location plan showing site of Silverhill Mill and later buildings
References & Notes
- ↑ a b Windmills in Sussex pg 13 Google Books
- ↑ Sussex Advertiser 25 February 1865
- ↑ a b Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society Lost Mills
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 20 January 1951 Pg. 0006
