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A strange brick built octagonal building stands alone on a hill above the Surrey village of Ockley,
it isn't big, perhaps little more than 20 feet accross, and nor is it very impressive, but as is often the case, if you know what you're looking for it becomes much more interesting. Below it on the west facing slope of the hill is a long shed which has evidently been used
for keeping chickens, judging by the state of it quite some time ago. To the untrained eye, the brick rotunda is no less puzzing on close inspection - it turns out to have no roof and set in the masonry over the door are four bricks inscribed with the builder's initials, JB, WC, WL and DN and each bearing the date 1803. If one looks in the right place, however, all soon becomes clear.
This is, or rather was Elmer's (or Almer's) Mill, a smock mill built in 1803 for a Mr. Harrison of Harley Street,
London by Thomas Coldman for a sum of £735 5s 9¼d.
Remarkably, throughout its working life of a little over a century, Elmer's Mill was worked exclusively by the Coldman family. It was under Edward Coldman in 1912 that the last flour was ground there before competition from the new steam mills finally forced the mill to close. With no further use to be found for her and windmill preservation all but unheard of in those days, she
(a windmill is always referred to as 'she') was abandoned and left to the wind and rain.
Despite later attempts to save her, she soon began to deteriorate so that by 1930
when help was applied for by the owner for restoration, she was found to be quite beyond repair.
Finally, on 23rd November, 1944, 32 years of storm damage, gales and rot proved
too much for the 150 year old structure to bear and without warning, Elmer's Mill collapsed
leaving only the brick built base standing. Timbers were either burnt or re-used and all ironwork was scrapped to help the War Effort.
The base was later roofed over and used as a henhouse, the final indignitity for a once magnificent machine. Today, however, the building has been uroofed, the floor has been excavated and red and white pegs mark the line of a track leading down to the main road - it appears that hope is in sight for this distinctive building.
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