AN HISTORIC windmill in Kent which was undergoing restoration has burned to the ground.

The blaze, on Saturday night, engulfed the Chislet Mill at Reculver, near Herne Bay, which was a local landmark behind the Roman Galley pub on the Thanet Way.

The 200-year-old mill, which was grade two listed, was in private ownership in the garden of the Old Mill House.

It was being restored by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings and the fire is thought to have been started by an electrical fault.

The mill and house used to be owned the Ministry of Defence and in the 1940s was occupied by bouncing bomb creator Barnes Wallis who used to watch trials of the bombs in the sea off Herne Bay from the top of the windmill.