00:00Kent has deep historical significance as a county, no matter when or where you look,
00:05whether it's military, Roman or nautical, but how do you decide what is official, verified
00:10history or not?
00:11Well Historic England have a grading system where they'll recommend buildings to become
00:15grade-listed and one of Margate's oldest sites, which might have some new wind in its sails,
00:20has managed to earn an upgrade.
00:22Draper's Windmill was listed as Grade 2 since 1973, which is the most common for listed
00:27buildings.
00:28Doing research and looking at it again, we've decided it's worthy of an upgrade to Grade
00:332 star, which is only about 5.8% of listed buildings are Grade 2 star.
00:39What that means is that it's of more than special interest.
00:43It's a particularly important building.
00:45This building's particularly important because it's a 19th century smock mill that survives
00:51in remarkable condition and survives with a lot of its original machinery and it still
00:58works, which is really fantastic.
00:59Now, windmills used to cover the entire country and very few actually still remain standing,
01:06and even fewer actually work.
01:08And that's one of the reasons why Draper's managed to earn its Grade 2 star listing.
01:12But it's not always an easy path from restoration to this kind of recognition.
01:16As I said, the milling business was very prosperous in the 19th century.
01:21And in about the 1880s, the miller built a fine new villa next to the second windmill, which
01:32became my family home.
01:33And I grew up there, went to the school, which is just across the road, and takes its name
01:38from the windmills, Draper's Mills School.
01:42And when the mill was threatened with demolition, the headteacher of the school, my mother, and
01:48the rest of the family, and lots of other parents of children at the school, got together
01:54to form a charity which saved the mill, and that's why we are where we are today.
02:00Since saving the site, Michael has gone on to work with the team to keep the mill not
02:04only well maintained, but even up and running, producing their own flour.
02:09The new listing means more legal protections for the 182-year-old building as well, making
02:13it less likely to be turned into houses, which has been the case for many other mills of its
02:18age across the country.
02:20Draper's Windmill is the sole survivor compared to the other two windmills that used to neighbour
02:24it, Little Draper's Mill and The Pumper.
02:27And the Trust hope that the new grade means the mill will survive for many years more,
02:31earning itself another second wind.
02:34Finn McDermid for KMTV in Margate.
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