The skyline over Cranbrook has been restored to its proper appearance with the completion of a 15-month refurbishment project on Union Windmill which had seen its picturesque sweeps removed.

But while Cranbrook’s Grade I listed windmill is back to normality, what has happened to other mills that once graced the Kent skyline?

Cranbrook's mill, which was built in 1814, has been owned by Kent County Council since 1958.

The mill is regularly open to the public thanks to volunteers from the Cranbrook Windmill Association.

Cranbrook windmill is the tallest smock mill in Britain, standing at 72ft to the top of the cap roof, with seven floors.

This type of windmill used to be very common in Kent and the term “smock mill” relates to the white painted wooden tower of the mill which is said to look like the traditional garment once worn in rural areas.

Each of the four sails, traditionally known south of the Thames as “sweeps.” is almost 30ft long and contains 66 wooden shutters.

These can be opened or closed to control the speed of the mill.

In the recent refurbishment, four new sweeps were constructed by a specialist craft firm in East Suffolk and transported a distance of 125 miles to the site, where they were lifted into position by a large mobile crane.

The painstaking process of re-installing the sweeps took three days.

Tim Whiting, one of the millwrights, who built and fitted the sweeps, said: "We are proud to have been involved with the restoration of KCC’s flagship smock mill. My team has worked hard but their efforts have paid off – the sight of the completed mill is truly stunning.”

Last year, the mill was wrapped in scaffolding while essential weatherproofing repairs were carried out.

Now using the skills of the early millers, local volunteers from the Cranbrook Windmill Association will soon be able to grind flour once again for visitors, using only the power of the wind.

Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council chairman Kim Fletcher said: “Residents will be delighted to have our windmill back in full sail.

“Even while it was naked, it has been floodlit as a Christmas tree and with the Ukrainian flag, but to have it back as one of the iconic sights of our town is great news.

“We urge visitors to come to see the mill in all its glory."

The Union Mill is open to visitors at weekends and on other days during the summer. See www.unionmill.org.uk for more details.

It was thought that at the peak of their popularity at the turn of the 19th century there were around 400 mills in Kent.

That is believed to now be reduced to just 12.

There are three basics types of mill. The tower mill, less common in Kent, consists of a cylindrical tower, usually stone or brick-built, with a wooden roof where the sweeps are attached that can rotate to catch the direction of the wind.

This is the oldest design, first used in the 13th century.

Post mills were more common on the European mainland. They have a stocky box structure that sits on top of a post, which may be hidden from view in a cylindrical base.

In post mills it is the whole structure of the mill that swivels on the post to catch the wind.

Finally there are smock mills. Like tower mills, it is only the top of the building where the sweeps are attached that rotates. Unlike tower mills, they are usually made of wood and rather than a cylinder shape, often have either six or eight sides.

Cranbrook is one of eight surviving mills owned by KCC.

Another is the Chillinden Mill at Goodestone, near Canterbury.

It is one of only four post mills to survive in Kent, and the last one with an open trestle. It has had a chequered history.

It was built in 1868, and rebuilt following storm damage in October 2003 that caused it to collapse. The reconstruction took two years.The windmill is painted white and has two pairs of millstones and a flour dresser.

Owned by KCC since 1958, the Grade II* building. like Cranbrook, is managed by volunteers, the Friends of Chillenden Windmill.

Davison's Mill at Stelling Minnis was built in 1866. It is a small black smock mill. It is unusual in that it has virtually no base. Inside it is possible to see the remains of a post mill that had previously stood on the site.The last miller, Alec Davison, continued to operate the mill using wind power until 1970. It was the last commercially working mill in Kent. When theer was no wind, the two pairs of millstones could be operated by a 1920 Ruston and Hornsby oil-powered engine.

KCC bought and restored the Grade I listed mill in 1970, and aim to get the sweeps turning again.

The interior of the four-storey smock mill remains virtually unchanged from its working days.

The mill is managed by the Stelling Minnis Mill and Museum Trust.

Drapers Mill at Margate is a black weather-boarded and tarred smock mill built in 1845 by John Holman. Wind power was supplemented with a gas engine in 1916. It fell into disrepair after the war, but in 1965 the Drapers Windmill Trust was set up to save it.

The mill's three pairs of millstones can be operated by wind power or by a 1920 Crossley gas-powered engine. KCC acquired the Grade II listed mill in 1968.

It was restored between 1969 and 1975 and is now in full milling order, cared for by volunteers of the trust.

Herne Mill at Herne Bay is one of Kent’s oldest smock mills, Herne Mill, built in 1781, by John Lawrence.

In 1856, the then owners decided the mill was not catching enough wind, so they raised the wooden tower by adding two brick-built floors underneath. It can clearly be seen by traffic on theA299. During its long working life, which ended in the 1950s, it was owned and run by only two families - the Lawrences and the Wootens. It is now managed and occasionally opened to the public by the Friends of Herne Mill. It is currently without sweeps as they have been removed for restoration. It is unusual in that all the internal machinery is made of wood, not cast iron.

Stocks Mill on the Isle of Oxney near Ashford is a post mill with a brick roundhouse, dating from 1781. It is so named because it once stood close to the village stocks. It was last used commercially in 1900, though prior to that, it had for a time been used as the parish workhouse. It has a green painted body, which like Herne contains original wooden machinery.

It was repaired in 1858, renovated in 1968 and renovated again in 2002. The Grade II mill was acquired by KCC in 1979, and is opened for visitors by a group of volunteers, by appointment. It is scheduled for a further facelift next year.

West Kingsdown Mill near Sevenoaks is no longer in working order but it is still an impressive sight.

The Grade II listed black smock mill was actually built at Farningham in about 1800, but was dismantled and moved to its present site in 1880 where it joined an existing post mill. Sadly that mill was destroyed by fire in 1909. The current mill carried patent and common sweeps and an unusual seven-bladed fantail. It lies landlocked within a farm.

The mill was worked by wind until 1928. One of the sails was damaged in 1929 and the fantail blew off in 1930. But the mill was restored externally in 1960 by Thompson & Son, Millwrights of Alford, Lincolnshire. It is unusual in that its octagonal tower sits on a square, not round, base.

The mill retains its principal machinery and three pairs of millstones. It has been owned by KCC since 1958.

Meopham Windmill near West Kingsdown was built in 1819. It is one of only a handful of six-sided smock mills in the UK, eight being the usual number.

The mill’s black smock tower stands on a two-storey brick base , and contains all its milling machinery including three pairs of millstones.

KCC has owned and maintained the Grade II* listed mill since 1958. It is in a prominent position overlooking the village cricket pitch and is managed on a daily basis by the Meopham Windmill Trust.

The building adjoining the base of the mill functions as the office of Meopham Parish Council. The hexagonal base of the windmill forms a very unusual council chamber, possibly the only one of its kind in the country.

Near Ashford, there is the Willesborough windmill.

The smock mill is Grade II* listed and was built in 1869 with a two-storey brick-built base. After only three years, a steam engine was added to allow the mill to keep working when there was no wind. That was replaced by a gas/oil engine in 1912. It remained a working mill until the 1950s, though in its latter years it ground only animal feed. It was purchased as a private dwelling but by 1991, it had badly deteriorated and Ashford Borough Council bought it and undertook a restoration.

In 2002 the mill was leased to the Willesborough Windmill Trust, who are now responsible for its upkeep. The Friend of Willesborough Windmill have now fully restored it to working order.

It will now grind corn either by wind power or by a single cylinder 14hp Hornsby engine.

Fire is the great enemy of windmills. Corn dust floating in air can be highly flammable, and this combined with the heat from the friction of the many moving parts in a mill could form an explosive mixture.

The Black Mill at Barham was to be lost in this way

Built in 1843 by John Holman of Canterbury, it occupied the site of two previous mills dating back to the 1596, when the Barham Mill was shown on a map of Kent as being one of only 30 mills in the county at that time.

In the 1920s, an engine was added to ensure grinding could continue even when there was no wind, but by 1934 commercial grinding had ceased altogether and the mill fell into disrepair.

However, a mill enthusiast - or to use the proper term, a molinologist - named Edward Mannering restored the mill to full working condition in the 1950s, with financial support from KCC, and throughout the 1960s its sweeps could be seen turning again - until on March 3, 1970, it burnt down. Now only the derelict base survives.

Some mills have survived through an early change of use. The Black Mill at Whitstable was built around 1815, and originally was white. It was tarred black as a preservative in 1885, which upset Trinity House a little, as the easily seen mill had been used by sailors as a navigation point.

It ground its last corn as early as 1899, and in the 1910s was bought by the Irving family. Artist and set designer Laurence Irving using it as his studio and library, and built a sympathetic Dutch-style home around it to live in.

Irving was the grandson of the actor Sir Henry Irving and well connected in the arts world. The Hollywood actors Douglas Fairbanks Snr and Mary Pickford spent part of their honeymoon there as his guests.

After that it underwent several changes of use.

For a while it was a rest home for retired sea captains for the Stanhope Shipping Company, and then in the 1960s was converted to a country club and hotel, before again being restored as a private home. The Grade II listed, weather-boarded smock mill last went on the market in 2017, when it sold for £1.295m.

Another mill that survived after conversion to a private home is the Charing smock mill.

Built in 1821, it ceased functioning as a working mill in 1891.

The mill was originally painted white overall, but the body of the mill was creosoted in 1969.

If you fancy living in a windmill, this three-bedroomed property is currently on sale through the Foundation Estate Agents for £995,000.

If that price is a little steep for you, or you are just worried about the ongoing maintenance costs, but would still like to find out what it must be like to live in a windmill like TV detective Jonathan Creek, you could always try an airbnb stay at the Old Smock Mill in Benenden.

A three-storey smock mill on top of a two-storey brick base, the mill last worked in 1921.

It no longer has its sweeps or fantail, but is still full of character.

It was used as a lookout by the military during that conflict, before falling into disrepair.

It was restored by its current owner Clare Winchester and converted to holiday let accommodation.

Visit here for details.

Ms Winchester said: "It's such a romantic place. The atmosphere inside is peaceful and relaxing.

"Our guests often say how hard it is to tear themselves away, it truly is a treasure to find."