Record Details
| NHER Number: | 12188 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of medieval or early post medieval post mill near Downing Farm |
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Summary
The site of a post mill, a type of windmill typically dated to the medieval or early post medieval period, is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The characteristic ring ditch surrounding a central cross-shaped pit is visible on the south-facing brow of a spur of land, overlooking Winterton to its northeast, a seemingly ideal location for a windmill. It lies less than 500m to the northwest of a group of four further ring ditches (NHER 43398). These are likely to have originally surrounded Bronze Age round barrows, but possible cross-shaped pits within some of the ring ditches suggest they were later reused as windmill mounds. This indicates that either several mills were sited in this area or there was a succession of mills located at slightly different sites.
Images
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 4883 1913 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG41NE |
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| Parish: | WINTERTON ON SEA, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK |
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Full description
Windmill site claimed by St Joseph on list of air photographs at this very approximate grid reference.
No windmill found in records for this area by [1]. Is this a mistake for NHER 13346?
E. Rose (NAU), 24 March 1982.
No, it is not. St Joseph air photograph (obtained by NAU 1982) shows at corrected grid reference a circle with crosstre (NAU), 29 April 1982.
March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 4881 1912 to TG 4884 1913.
The post mill site described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3). The site, which comprises a ring ditch surrounding a central cross-shaped pit, is typical of levelled post mill mounds, usually dated to the medieval or early post medieval period. The proximity of further mill mounds in the area (NHER 43398 475m to the southeast) suggests either the former existence of several mills, or the erection of a succession of structures on different sites. Like the ring ditches to the southeast (also NHER 43398), the mound may have originated as a Bronze Age round barrow. The location is suitable for a prehistoric funerary monument, but its apparent isolation from the other barrows and the character of the ring ditch (a substantial, rather irregular ditch with two probable causeways, see below) are perhaps more typical of a purpose built mound. The site is surrounded on its north, west and south sides by the cropmarks of at least two phases of field system (NHER 13073 and 43399) but its relationship with these sites is not known.
The ring ditch is roughly circular in plan and measures approximately 24m in diameter. Narrow breaks in the ditch circuit on its north and east sides are flanked by slightly swollen ditch terminals and have the appearance of genuine causeways.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 16 March 2006.
Monument Types
- RING DITCH (Bronze Age - 2350 BC? to 701 BC?)
- ROUND BARROW? (Bronze Age - 2350 BC? to 701 BC?)
- POST MILL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
- RING DITCH (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
- WINDMILL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
- WINDMILL MOUND (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status
Sources and further reading
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| <S1> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: CUCAP. 1975. NHER TG 4819A (CUCAP BOB88) 05-JUL-1975. |
| <S2> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: CUCAP. 1975. NHER TG 4819B (CUCAP BUY88) 24-JUL-1975
SNF10497 S1 Oblique Aerial Photograph CUCAP, 1975, NHER TG 4819A (CUCAP BOB88) 05-JUL-1975. |
| <S3> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: Jeavons, A.. 1996. NHER TG 4819J-K (NLA KRD4-5) 26-JUN-1996. |
Related records - none
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