Environmentally-friendly energy sources are much in the news; but Goffs Oak had it’s own windmill about 145 years ago! It stood at the eastern edge of ‘The Crest’ and could be easily seen from Newgatestreet Road.

The Mill c1905

In 1800 there were 28 windmills in Hertfordshire, but only 16 by the time the Goffs Oak mill was built. It was mentioned in the 1841 census although the first reference to a mill in the village was between 1830 and 1840, which is believed to have been a wooden “Post” type mill, that had been relocated from Chigwell. Destroyed by fire in 1860 it was replaced by a much larger Tower Mill. This stood about 80ft high with 6 floors and a base diameter of 23ft, and built of brick faced with tar. The mill had 4 sails, each about 35ft long and about 9ft wide.

Wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, etc were milled. A full working day could produce about 63 hundredweight of wheat flour, plus similar quantities of bran (husks of ground corn) pollard (bran including small quantities of flower), middlings (second quality flour) which were marketed locally. To overcome lack of wind, or sometimes too much, a steam driven corn mill was built in 1870 along Newgatestreet Road, just north of the Village Smithy, roughly where the Joy Bangla restaurant and the Washing Well laundrette now stand.

The first owner-miller was Charles Hart 1840-50, followed by Charles Nicholas 1850-61 when his son, also named Charles, took over. However it is believed that by 1871 the Nicholas family, although still owning the mill, confined themselves to working the steam mill in Newgatestreet Road as the census for that year shows a journeyman miller, Thomas Wilkins, living at the windmill with his wife and granddaughter.

By 1856 the mill had passed to Alfred Rayson who, in addition to employing 3 men, apparently maintained a household of a wife, 9 children and a domestic servant. The 1881 census also includes two woman listed as “visitors” with their occupations shown as governesses. By 1885 the mill owner was declared bankrupt and the house was let to a Mr Willett at an annual rent of £32. That year the property was sold by auction with vacant possession. Attached to the mill on the half acres plot there was also an 11 room house with stable, a hay barn, piggery, chicken house and a 30ft deep well. The purchaser, Benjamin Robinson, who also took over the steam mill, although by 1890 Kelly’s directory entry shows him only as a “windmill miller.” He was obviously a man of local importance as Robinson Avenue was named after him in 1935.

The Mill and Mill House c1910

Towards the end of the 19th century this type of milling operation ceased to be profitable and the mill closed in 1897. In the early part of the 20th century the mill building fell into decline. During the winter of 1914 one of the sails was blown down; the others were soon removed. The cap suffered a similar fate in 1921. The mill was finally demolished in 1954 but not before providing some community service. During World War I a scout blew the “all clear” from the top of the building after Zeppelin raids. During World War II it was used as an air-raid observation post.

That demolition proved difficult was a tribute to the Victorian builders. It wasn’t until the second contractor had failed that a novel solution was found to take down the stub of the building. This was to bore holes in the walls, thread a chain through the holes, than winch off slices like a cheese. The foundations were found to be too substantial to be removed and so remain to this present day, as does the well. The story of the bricks were reused is doubtful since they all had curved sides!