Parish :
O.S Grid Reference
Topography Windmill on the banks of the river Stour, Dorset
Archaeology :
Earliest Dating Sketch by John Constable in 1802 - mill probably much earlier
Records
Documents
Maps
Early maps
Ogilby 1695
Taylor 1765
Tithe Map (c1840)
1st Edition OS map
Present OS map
The windmill Post mill with tail pole and roundhouse under mill body.
The Millers
Present site condition
Notes and comments
The V & A Museum in London holds a sketch by the famous English artist John Constable (1776 - 1837).
"A mill on the banks of the River Stour" by John Constable
Black chalk & red chalk sketch. Dorset, England 1802
V&A museum number : 841-1888 ; Image Ref : 2006BF3353 see link below
There is no indication of where this windmill is on the River Stour. It is noted as being in Dorset by the V & A (proof = ???).
NB John Constable was born in East Bergholt in Suffolk where there is another River Stour - it is likely that this sketch has been wrongly located as being on the Dorset Stour.
His father was a prosperous miller who had inherited Flatford Watermill on the River Stour. He later acquired another watermill at Dedham and two windmills at Bergholt. He initially joined his father in his milling business and was known locally as the "Handsome Miller" . He learnt to observe the skies and winds in order to set the windmill sails to best advantage. His drawings of mills were always technically correct as a result.
(Above information from "John Constable" by Edward Allhusen - Medici Society Ltd London 1976)
16/7/11 - I saw in another book about Constable that this sketch was the windmill "near Cattawade" = to be proved