Record Details

NHER Number:4572
Type of record:Building
Name:West Winch windmill

Summary

This windmill was built in 1821, with a granary and oven in the adjacent house. Paraffin engines were installed in 1925, but the mill became disused in 1937, when the last miller was killed in the mill. The tower mill is very unusual in that its windows are staggered rather than vertically in line. It should also be noted that the granary had a V cut into the roof to allow the sails to pass through, and this was neglected in the restoration until the sails were restored.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 6313 1677
Map Sheet:TF61NW
Parish:WEST WINCH, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

July 1975. Site visit.
Windmill. Disused tower mill with ruins of wooden cap. New house being built against side.
Seen by E. Rose (NAU), 15 July 1975.

Built 1821. No bread made after late 19th century. Paraffin engines installed 1925. Disused again 1937.
E. Rose (NAU).

The last miller was killed in the mill June 1937. Mr Apling does not elaborate. A cap and one pair of sails have now been restored. The house is a conversion of the granary.
Information from H. Apling.
E. Rose (NAU), 24 March 1982.

John Lawn, millwright and restorer, adds; the mill is very unusual (unique?) in having some of its windows staggered rather than vertically in line. It was built by Dodmans of Lynn and is unusual in being signed. It had an onion cap and very unusually the sheartrees were not parallel. The old granary formerly had a V cut in its roof for the sails to pass through. Upon restoration the owner of the new house neglected this feature until the first time the sails turned....
E. Rose (NAU), 8 February 1985.

1988. Listed Grade II
(S1) notes a large bread oven in the house.

Sails blown off in February 1998, to be replaced later in year.
See (S2) in file which also states that the miller in 1937 was killed by the machinery.
E. Rose (NLA), 17 April 1998.

Press cuttings (S2), (S3), (S4) in file.

Both cap and sails, replaced by John Lawn in 1970s as above, removed in 2004 because of decay.
E. Rose (NLA), 14 July 2004.

According to (S5), sale particulars from 1855 note that a horse mill worked in conjunction with the windmill. The site also included a jumper for cleaning grain, a flour dresser and an additional pair of stones. Over the next ten years the business was enlarged with the addition of a granary, a workshop and a bakery. A steam engine had also been installed by 1861 to drive a fourth pair of stones within the windmill.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 6 December 2018.

Monument Types

  • GRANARY (19th Century to 21st Century - 1821 AD to 2100 AD)
  • TOWER MILL (19th Century to 21st Century - 1821 AD? to 2100 AD)
  • WINDMILL (19th Century to 21st Century - 1821 AD? to 2100 AD)
  • CART SHED (19th Century - 1855 AD to 1855 AD)
  • HORSE ENGINE HOUSE (19th Century - 1855 AD? to 1855 AD?)
  • STABLE (19th Century - 1855 AD to 1855 AD)
  • BAKERY (19th Century - 1861 AD to 1861 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TF 61 NW 27.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Monograph: Pevsner, N and Wilson, W. 1999. Norfolk 2: North-West and South. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. p 773.
---Newspaper Article: Lynn News. 1990. [Photograph of West Winch windmill in 1967]. 11 April.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1997. [Photograph of West Winch windmill]. 25 January.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1997. [Photographs of West Winch windmill after the sail blew off in 1997]. 21 February.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Designation: English Heritage. National Heritage List for England. List Entry 1077631.
<S2>Newspaper Article: Lynn News. 1997-1998. [Articles on the restoration of the West Winch windmill after a sail blew off in 1997].
<S3>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1977. New cap for West Winch windmill. 2 March.
<S4>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1985. Home with all-round appeal. 13 April.
<S5>Website: Norfolk Mills. West Winch towermill. http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Windmills/west-winch-towermill.html.

Related records - none

Find out more...

Norfolk County Council logo Heritage Lottery Fund logo

Powered by HBSMR-web and the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd, and mojoPortal CMS
© 2007 - 2024 Norfolk Historic Environment Service