Mill Green Mill was built in 1759, replacing an earlier mill which stood some to the east during the period 1564–1731. The mill was built by Robert Barker, a millwright from Chelmsford. A roundhouse was included from the start. The mill was owned by the Petre estate and records of expenditure on the mill are in the Essex Record Office. In July or August 1774, a farmer was killed by being struck by the sails of the mill. New sails were fitted in 1802 and 1806, and a new stock in 1821. An accident at the mill resulted in the miller sustaining a fractured thigh in 1852, and the owner of the mill being reported to have been carried round on the sails for ten or twelve revolutions before he was rescued. The roof of the mill was repaired in 1878 and the mill re-tarred. A new sail was fitted in 1884 and a new pair of sails in 1902. The mill was working until at least 1905. Some repairs were done to the body of the mill in the 1930s. The mill was restored in 1959 by R.F. Collinson, who had bought the mill house and discovered the mill in the garden. This entailed the complete replacement of the frame of the mill, including the crowntree. On 2 January 1976, the sails ran away in a gale and the brake wheel disintegrated. A new brake wheel was constructed in 1989.
Description
Mill Green Mill is a post mill with a single-storey roundhouse. The mill is winded by a tailpole. It has two spring sails and two spring patents. There are two pairs of millstones arranged head and tail.
Trestle and roundhouse
The trestle is of oak, with the main post thought to be of sweet chestnut. The crosstrees are long, square at the ends, thickening to by at the centre. The underside of the lower crosstree is above ground level. The main post is nearly in length, square at its base and diameter at the top. The quarterbars are by in section. The roundhouse is of brick, with a boarded roof covered in tarred felt.
Body
The body of the mill measures by in plan. The crowntree is by in section. It has a cast-iron plate bolted to its underside, with a pintle projecting downwards that fits into a cast-iron pot on the top of the main post, a reversal of the normal fitting. The side girts are by in section.
Sails and windshaft
As originally built, the mill would have had a wooden windshaft and four common sails. The windshaft is of cast iron, probably replacing a former wooden one. It is long and carries the head and tail wheels. The mill has two spring sails and two spring patents. The sails have a span of.
Machinery
The head wheel is of clasp arm construction, it is diameter. It has an iron segment ring bolted on which has a total of 120 teeth. It drive a cast-iron stone nut, with 20 cogs. Originally, the head wheel had 69 cogs, of 4½ in pitch. The tail wheel is also of clasp arm construction, diameter. It has an iron segment ring bolted on which has a total of one hundred teeth. It drives a cast-iron stone nut, with fifteen cogs. Both wheels were made from elm. The headstones are diameter and the tailstones are diameter.
