Bembridge, Isle of Wight windmill, Hampshire

The National Trust
Bembridge Windmill
The sole surviving windmill in the Isle of Wight. Built in 1700 and containing much of the original wooden machinery. Presented to The National Trust by Mrs E Smith of Mill Farm, Bembridge in 1958.

Bembridge Windmill
Bembridge windmill is the only surviving windmill on the Isle of Wight. Painted by JMW Turner in 1795, the mill was built around the early 1700s. Using local limestone, the mill was owned by the Dennett family for almost all of its working life.
The tower stands thirty-eight feet in height and is faced on the weather side with cement rendering. The wooden cap is built four square on oak beams which form a cradle upon which the whole cap, complete with the windshaft, interior driving wheels and the sweeps, were turned to face into the wind. There is an oak curb with beech wood teeth facing outwards.
The miller turned the cap using a continuous chain that hung above the door from the six foot steering wheel, as the wheel turned, so did the worm behind, engaging the teeth on the curb. Inside, the geat breakwheel {sic}, eight feet in diameter, is built of oak with beech or apple wood teeth. This shaft is octagonal, 18 inches across at the top and 20 inches at the great spur wheel which is nine feet in diameter.