Built in 1665 by Thomas Budgen, a miller from Nutfield in Surrey, it is Britain's oldest working windmill.
The builders of the mill are traditionally said to have watched the Great Fire of London glowing in the distance, some 25 miles (40 km) away.
In 1929, the Windmill Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings recognised the mill as "of paramount importance".
The Society paid for Thomas Hunt, the Soham millwright, to make and fit these at a cost of £80.
William Jupp agreed not to sell the mill for demolition as a condition of the work being done.
On 30 October 1931, a meeting was held to appeal for funds to replace the older pair of sails.
Hilaire Belloc, who at the time owned Shipley windmill in Sussex, was the main speaker.
[3] These had previously been on the Black Mill, Forncett End, Norfolk, which had been demolished in September 1932.
Plans were drawn up for further restoration, but were postponed due to World War II.
Milling ceased in 1949 when the breast beam cracked and the windshaft dropped causing the sails to touch the roundhouse roof.
[7] On 24 November 1796, William Budgen was granted leave to erect a windmill on a plot of land near the post mill.
(In the ' Sights and Sounds of Britain ' Lyntone ' Flexidisc, from 1972, " Presented by " Johnny Morris, but with words unattributed to him, this second mill's building date was given as 1870 ) .
A survey undertaken in 1953 showed the mill had rotten cant posts and sills at the southwest side (facing the prevailing weather), with prohibitively high repair costs.
The mill drives two pairs of millstones, arranged Head and Tail and is winded by tailpole.
The Crown Tree bears a date of 1880, possibly indicating its replacement in that year.
The four sails were Spring Patents, spanning 80 feet (24.38 m), carried in a cast-iron Windshaft.
The wooden Upright shaft was sixteen-sided, 20 inches (510 mm) across the flats, with a dog clutch allowing the windmill to be disconnected when the mill was being driven by the portable engine.