Author Topic: Upchurch Windmill  (Read 18601 times)

Offline MartinR

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Re: Upchurch Windmill
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2020, 11:16:17 PM »
I've read up a fair bit on coal mine explosions.  For many years it was assumed that the explosion was due to firedamp but since the late C19 it has been understood that firedamp is only a starter.  The initial small explosion kicks up coal dust and coal-air forms an explosive mix.  As the flame front passes through the mixture the pressure in front builds and raises more coal dust.  The rising pressure (remember this is within a mine gallery) causes the flame front to accelerate causing more wind in front and more dust raised.  The explosion therefore travels with frightening speed down the roadways.

Why talk about coal mines?  Well I understand that flour-air mixtures are just as bad.  Many years ago I worked in a bakery and on the continuous oven for buns you would hear regular soft bangs as the flour hit the heaters.  There may not be any mill examples recorded but there are records of explosions in flour silos and in ships' holds.  Any small explosion, such as a dropped candle or lantern might start to raise the dust, and once the dust is up you could get a flame front spreading throughout the mill.  The timber might catch fire and bye-bye mill.  I think the application of this to mills may need more research before being relied upon but dust-air mixtures, even grain-air mixtures are bad news.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_explosion for some pretty graphic examples including large scale flour mills.

bertroid

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Re: Upchurch Windmill
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2020, 11:00:09 PM »
What is the commonest cause of a mill fire, Bertroid, ignoring foul play? 


I had always assumed it was a combination of Tallow grease causing bearings on line shafts to run hot, igniting something, which then in turn ignited the dust.  But that is solely an engineers guess.
DTT


Foul play is almost certainly the highest, be it insurance jobs, or things pre-insurance such as Captain Swing etc.

Flour dust is alleged to be explosive in a confined space, but there doesn't seem to be any recorded mill incidences of it.  As you said, the commonest cause is friction on bearings not lubricated, causing sparks igniting wood.  Many mills had steam engines added which again could lead to the same problem by misfiring etc.


The last complete windmill burned in 1970 at Barham.  Ironically, it was a terrible accident caused by a millwright burning rubbish near the mill, and the wind suddenly changing direction etc.  The substantial remains of Shorne windmill were burned down in the 1990s, probably by a local miscreant.

Offline DaveTheTrain

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Re: Upchurch Windmill
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2020, 10:39:07 PM »
What is the commonest cause of a mill fire, Bertroid, ignoring foul play? 


I had always assumed it was a combination of Tallow grease causing bearings on line shafts to run hot, igniting something, which then in turn ignited the dust.  But that is solely an engineers guess.
DTT

bertroid

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Re: Upchurch Windmill
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2020, 08:02:37 PM »

Just to correct a few bits on the history, which looks like it is taken from the book by William Coles-Finch, which is sadly riddled with errors.  I'm slowly correcting it in five volumes.  Coles-Finch lived in Medway all his life, and missed mills which he might have known as a young man.


The windmill was built in 1802, by a chap named John Peak.  The first lessee was a lady named Elizabeth Medhurst.  The Wakeley Brothers took the mill in the 1850s, and raised it then, rather than in 1902-3.  They worked it until the 1890s, when they gave up probably due to the advent of steam.  So it had a continuous working life of 90+ years.

It's interesting that they still renewed the insurance premiums every year up to 1910, which could suggest foul play, as with many other windmill fires around this era!


There was also an early windpump on Upchurch marshes, recorded in a sale notice of 1810.

Upchurch windmill in 1903 on Windmill Hill, Upchurch. A working mill from 1819-1843 + 1858-1872 + 1903-1910. Owned by William Wakeley who raised the whole structure on a brick base in 1902/1903 to get better wind-power. Fire completely destroyed the mill in September 1910 and it was never rebuilt.


The general view of the windmill burning. A local photographer had taken the scene a few years earlier. He added a few dark marks for smoke and put the postcard out for sale again!


Pictures from Upchurch in old picture postcards by Mike Gunnill

KeithG

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Re: Upchurch Windmill
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2020, 12:01:01 PM »
The "Wakeley Brothers"... part of a long standing family in Rainham.
In 1978 I lived in Wakeley Road which was a fairly new built housing estate.

Offline Mike Gunnill

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Upchurch Windmill
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2020, 12:40:19 PM »
Upchurch windmill in 1903 on Windmill Hill, Upchurch. A working mill from 1819-1843 + 1858-1872 + 1903-1910. Owned by William Wakeley who raised the whole structure on a brick base in 1902/1903 to get better wind-power. Fire completely destroyed the mill in September 1910 and it was never rebuilt.


The general view of the windmill burning. A local photographer had taken the scene a few years earlier. He added a few dark marks for smoke and put the postcard out for sale again!


Pictures from Upchurch in old picture postcards by Mike Gunnill

Mike Gunnill

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