Elm was often used in the construction of buildings. Oak was always first choice, elm always
a second best and if it was used it indicates a step lower down in the social scale (Rackham,
1986). Most large Essex barns are framed in oak, but elm would occasionally have been used
for repair where oak was originally used. Elm was apparently more commonly used after the
medieval period (Rackham, 1986). The best example I can find in Essex of a building
extensively using elm is Mountnessing Windmill, near Ingatestone, a beautifully restored post
mill, restoration being completed in 1983. The mill is owned and maintained by Essex Council
Council and the Friends of Mountnessing Windmill and is well worth a visit.
The body or buck is heavily framed in elm and oak timbers, the main supporting timbers -
the massive post and the crown-tree, quarter bars and the cross trees are all in elm (Fig. 10).
Fig. 10 Mountnessing Windmill - A Diagrammatic Illustration with the
Milling Machinery Removed Showing the Main Elm Timbers
The massive post, 12-sided in section in the upper half and squared at the base and about 20 ft.
tall, is taken from a single elm trunk, posts were usually of oak. Although the roof is almost
entirely of new wood, at least two of the old curved roof supports have been retained and these
are of elm. The roof timbers were all originally of naturally curved elm wood, hence they were
all different and the roof boards when nailed on were uneven, allowing the rain to get in and
hastening the decay of the internal elm timbers. Of the milling machinery, the head wheel is
probably of elm, though the teeth were of hornbeam. The crown tree has the date 1807 carved
onto it.
Oliver Rackham (1986a) records a small amount of elm timber being used in a possible late
50