Berney Arms Windmill is a

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

located at

Berney Arms Berney Arms is a settlement on the north bank of the River Yare, close to Breydon Water in the English county of Norfolk. It is part of the civil parish of Reedham, in the district of Broadland, and lies within The Broads. It comprises a rail ...

alongside the

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the vil ...

at the south-western end of

Breydon Water Breydon Water is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. It is a Local Nature Reserve, a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is part of the Berney Marshes and Breydon Water nature reserve, whic ...

in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

.The Norfolk Windmill Trust, Windmills to Visit Guide. 3rd Edition, 1982, Page 16. The Morris Printing Co Ltd, 57-61 Pitt Street, Norwich - description & location details. The windmill is in an isolated spot in

The Broads The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...

around north-east of the village of Reedham and south-west of Great Yarmouth. The mill has no road access but can be accessed by boat, by foot or from

Berney Arms railway station Berney Arms railway station is on the Wherry Lines in the East of England, serving the settlement of Berney Arms on the Halvergate Marshes in Norfolk. It is from and is the only station on a short stretch of single line between and . It is ...

. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

under the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

Description

The windmill is tall and is the tallest drainage windmill in

.Windmills - information for teachers

, 2003. Retrieved 2014-02-19. It is constructed from red brickwork with the outside sloping walls coated with

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

. The mill tower stands seven storeys high. The cap resembles an upturned clinker boat hull and is a traditional style for Norfolk. The windmill has four sails and a

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as " ...

. The mill's scoop wheel stands some way from the mill, which is unusual. The scoop wheel is linked to the mill by a horizontal shaft and has a diameter of , with long wooden paddles. The paddles scooped water into a narrow brick-built culvert and released it to the higher level of the

History

The windmill was built in 1865 for the Reedham Cement Company by the millwright firm of StolworthyReedham Berney Arms drainage mill
Norfolk Windmills website. Retrieved 2014-02-19.Labrum, E.A (1993) ''Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England'', Thomas Telford Ltd (p.129). on the site of a previous mill. It was initially used to grind

cement clinker 200px, Typical clinker nodules 200px, Hot clinker Cement clinker is a solid material produced in the manufacture of Portland cement as an intermediary product. Clinker occurs as lumps or nodules, usually to in diameter. It is produced by sinte ...

, using chalk from

Whitlingham Whitlingham is a small churchless parish and hamlet at the mouth of the River Wensum in Norfolk, England. It is located 3 miles (5 km) east of Norwich, on the south bank of the River Yare, reached from Trowse along Whitlingham Lane. Churc ...

near Norwich and clay dredged from

Oulton Broad Oulton Broad refers to both the lake and the suburb of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. The suburb is located west of the centre of Lowestoft. It became a civil parish in 2017. It had an estimated population of 10,338 at the 2011 Uni ...

, both brought to the mill by

wherry A wherry is a type of boat that was traditionally used for carrying cargo or passengers on rivers and canals in England, and is particularly associated with the River Thames and the River Cam. They were also used on the Broadland rivers of No ...

.Local character area 19 - Halvergate marshes (excluding Bure loop and the west of Tunstall dyke)
Broads landscape character assessment,

Broads Authority The Broads Authority is the agency which has statutory responsibility for the Broads in England. Originally, the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England), pressed for a special authority to manage the Broads which had been neglected for ...

, 2006. Retrieved 2014-02-20. These materials were fired at nearby

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

s. The kilns produced a clinker which was ground to a powder in the windmill. At this time the cement works supported a small settlement with 11 inhabited houses and a chapel. Cement production closed down in 1880 and in 1883 the windmill was converted into a

drainage mill A windpump is a type of windmill which is used for pumping water. Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The use of wind pumps became widespread across the Muslim world an ...

to drain the surrounding

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

. The mill closed in 1948 when it was replaced by motor pumps.Berney Arms high mill
Norfolk Heritage Explorer,

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the top-tier local government authority for Norfolk, England. Its headquarters are based in the city of Norwich. Below it there are 7 second-tier local government district councils: Breckland District, Broadland Distr ...

. Retrieved 2014-02-19.Berney Arms Windmill
, Engineering timelines. Retrieved 2014-02-19. It was given to the Ministry of Works in 1951 and restoration begun in 1967.

The windmill today

The windmill is a

under the care of

. It underwent a lengthy restoration programme starting in 1999 when the sails were removed along with the cap and fantail. After a long period without them the cap was replaced during 2003, the fantail on 22 April 2006 and finally the sails on 25 May 2007. During the Summer of 2009

, in partnership with a local boat touring company, re-opened the mill on a limited basis on a number of Mondays. It is now only open to pre-booked group tours.Berney Arms Windmill

. Retrieved 2014-02-19. RSPB volunteers, on behalf of English Heritage, have opened the mill on the last Sunday of each month during 2016 and intend to do so in coming years during the summer months. The mill is currently closed to the public for major restoration to bring it to full working order.

References

External links

Berney Arms Windmill
at Berney Arms Web
Berney Arms Windmill
at English Heritage {{Windmills and Windpumps of East Anglia Windmills in Norfolk English Heritage sites in Norfolk Windmills of the Norfolk Broads Tower mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1865 Scheduled monuments in Norfolk Broadland