Enduring legacy of a bygone wind power era

But many of the ancient buildings have been through the mill themselves, lying in ruins in fields across the county.

Bill Gardner looks back through the Argus archives for the best windmill stories from years gone by.

Jack and Jill went up the hill – and there they still stand today, 150 years on.

The famous pair of windmills are romantic silhouettes on the South Downs outside Hassocks, welcoming commuters returning home by train.

See them up close and you realise they really are a Jack and Jill – Jack a sturdy chap built of brick and Jill, altogether daintier, definitely female and made of wood.

Jack, now a private home, is a tower mill and Jill a smock mill.

The mills worked for more than 40 years but shortly after the turn of the century they became redundant as more modern forms of power were developed.

Jill started life in Dyke Road, Brighton, and was transported in sections across the Downs by oxen in 1852 to be rebuilt at Clayton.

It survived a fire in the 1987 Great Storm after fierce winds forced round the sweeps despite the brake being on, and the resulting friction sparked a blaze.

In the late 12th century there were more than 900 mills recorded in Sussex. Today only 80 or so remain and sadly some are no more than a pile of bricks.

Smugglers' haunt

Years ago, smugglers would hide their loot in windmills and tales would be told about the ghosts haunting the ancient buildings.

Some experts now think the ghost stories were created by the smugglers to keep snoopers away.

But visitors are now made very welcome, as Peter Hill, who was chairman of the Sussex Mills Group, discovered some years ago.

Driving through the Sussex countryside with his children he came across Polegate Windmill, a brick tower mill built in 1817.

“It completely captured my imagination,” he said.

“I wanted to know much more about windmills, their history, the different styles – tower, smock and post mill.

“I think one of the attractions of windmills is that they are so aesthetically pleasing.”

Art gallery owner Michael Robinson agreed.

In 1992, he said paintings of windmills were the second most popular in Sussex after animals.

Bygone age

He said: “I am not quite sure why they are so popular. Perhaps it is because they reflect a bygone age and a slower pace of life that so many people crave.”

Another mill that has stood the test of time is Patcham Mill on the outskirts of Brighton.

The Grade II listed building was built in 1884 for baker Joseph Harris. It was the last working windmill to be built in Sussex and it continued grinding corn until 1924.

In 1928, when it was sold, it fetched just £50.

It was another eight years before it was converted into a home and during the war it was used by the Home Guard.

Half a century later, a builder unearthed what was believed to be one of the oldest pieces of medieval windmill in the country.

Alan Hassell, who ran a building firm at Stone Cross near Eastbourne, was digging a trench on the site of a new house in Polegate in August 1987 when he found an ancient-looking block of wood.

Without realising what it was he put it to one side until it was spotted by keen historian John Steer while out walking.

He was certain that the wood once formed part of the centre post of a medieval windmill.

He said: “It is perfectly preserved and all the pottery that we found around it is no later than 1300 so it is safe to assume it is 14th century.

“It must be one of the oldest, if not the only, preserved centre posts in the country.”