A Sussex couple want to bring back a piece of their village's history missing for 123 years.

Margaret Appa and her husband Ranjit hope to restore the 2m cap to the top of the windmill at Ecclesden Mill in Angmering.

The return of the cap will be one of the final stages to their plan to return the windmill to its former glory.

Ecclesden Mill has gone through various stages of dereliction and several rebuilds during its 177-year history.

The tower mill was built to replace John Olliver's windmill on Highdown Hill, near Worthing, in 1826.

Disaster struck less than 60 years later when, in 1880, the cap and sails, known as sweeps, blew into a nearby chalk pit during a storm.

The mill was left to the elements until it was used as an observation post during the Second World War after which, it was abandoned once again.

In the Seventies developers turned the 11m mill into the focal point of a development of luxury bungalows but over the past few years few repairs have been made to the village landmark off High Street, Angmering.

Now Margaret and Ranjit want to restore the mill which was in danger of falling in on itself.

Margaret, who moved into the bungalow adjoining the mill with Ranjit last May said: "We had lived in the village for about 13 years and were on the lookout for a property with more space."

Margaret, a former art teacher at Northbrook College in Worthing, said they immediately decided to restore the mill.

One of the first things the couple did was change the name from The Mill House back to its traditional name of Ecclesden Mill.

The restoration work, expected to take six weeks, is underway to repair the brickwork and cedar shingle will be applied to the outside to protect it from the elements.

The couple also want to submit a planning application to restore the 2m high cap to the top of the windmill.

Craftsmen carrying out the restoration said they turned to the internet for information because the job was so unusual.

Andy Coles from Ferring who runs Character Builders said: "The planning office couldn't give us much information about how to go about restoring the mill.

"We got quite a bit of information from the internet but in some respects we have had to make things up as we go along."

Margaret said they planned to use the windmill as guest rooms once work was completed.