Hickling Mill is a 19th-century grade II* listed

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

in Hickling Heath,

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 ...

, England. It was built of tarred brick in 1818 to a design known as 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 ...

, a tapering circular building 8 storeys high with

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...

thick at the base. Each floor has 4 windows to the four cardinal points of the compass although many are blocked up on the inside, especially on the north face. It is topped by a weatherboarded boat-shaped cap with a petticoat and fan cradle. The mill was used for grinding wheat for flour and by the 1860s also included a bakery. Production ceased in 1904, at which time the sails and fantail were removed. After several changes of ownership the mill in 1934 came into the ownership of the Forbes family, who carried out major cap renovation in 1989. Otherwise Hickling Mill is one of the few windmills in the country to have been preserved in a largely unrestored condition. It still contains almost a complete set of main machinery and many of the original timber fittings and three sets of millstones.

Technical Details

The tower has a height of to the top of the brickwork and an overall height of to the ridge of the cap. The cap is a Norfolk boat shaped type which had an 8 bladed fan and a gallery. The sails consisted of four double shuttered sails, each with 9 bays, controlled by a diameter brake wheel. They powered 3 pairs of French burr stones, 2 flour mills, a cylinder and a jumper. 3 dressing machines and an oat crusher could also be driven.

References

{{Windmills and Windpumps of East Anglia Industrial buildings completed in the 19th century Windmills in Norfolk Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in Norfolk Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed windmills Hickling, Norfolk