Caston Tower Windmill is a

grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed

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 ...

at Caston,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

which is under restoration. The mill is also a scheduled monument.

History

Caston Windmill was built in 1864, replacing a

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

which had been standing in 1834. The tower was built by William Wright, a local builder, and fitted out by

millwright A millwright is a craftsman or skilled tradesman who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mechanic'') ...

Robert Hambling of

East Dereham Dereham (), also known historically as East Dereham, is a town and civil parish in the Breckland District of the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about west of the city of Norwich and east of King's Lynn. The civi ...

. It bears a date stone inscribed EW 1864, referring to Edward Wyer, who had owned the post mill. The mill caught fire during a storm on 24 March 1895 but it is not recorded how much damage was done. The Watton fire brigade were called upon to deal with the fire. Edward Wyer ran the mill until his death on 5 July 1897. His property was offered for sale by

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

on 7 October 1897 at the Dukes Head

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, Caston, but remained unsold. Wyer's son James took the mill and ran it until 1910 when he retired. In that year, Wyer's brother-in-law Benjamin Knott took the mill. A new stock was fitted in August 1915 and a new sail fitted by Robert Martin, millwright of

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is located along the A145 r ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, in September 1922, at which date the mill was painted. Knott ran the mill until 1940, latterly in partnership with his son James. During Knott's tenure, a Hornsby oil engine was installed in the granary, driving a further pair of

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

s. In 1940, the mill was sold to James Bilham, who used the engine driven millstones for milling, and removed the two pairs of

Peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

millstones from the windmill. Bilham died in 1967 and the mill was sold by his widow in October 1969. The mill was bought by millwright John Lawn, who intended to restore the mill to working order. The granary was converted to residential accommodation. Lawn entered into partnership with Philip Lennard as Lennard and Lawn (Millwrights) Ltd, at the time the only professional millwrights based in Norfolk. Lennard & Lawn did a lot of work for the

Norfolk Windmills Trust The Norfolk Windmills Trust is a charity based in Norfolk, England, which restores and cares for windmills in that county. Mills in its care (but not necessarily owned) include those at: * Ashtree Farm Mill *Berney Arms (English Heritage - pictur ...

and consequently the restoration of Caston Mill took place on an "as and when" basis. The cap and sails were removed on 23 November 1983. John Lawn died in January 2000. A memorial plaque was dedicated to him at Old Buckenham. The cap was refitted to Caston Mill in 2000.

Description

Caston Windmill is a six-storey tower mill with a two storey granary attached. There is a stage at second floor level. The tower is outside diameter at ground level with walls thick. It is outside diameter at curb level. The tower is tall to curb level. The boat-shaped cap is winded by a six-bladed

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 "f ...

. The four ''double Patent sails'' have ten bays. Eight bays carried three shutters and two bays carried two shutters. The sails are carried on a cast-iron ''windshaft'', which also carries a diameter wooden clasp arm ''brake wheel''. The cast-iron ''wallower'' is carried on a wooden ''upright shaft''. The three pairs of millstones were driven ''underdrift''.

Millers

*Edward Wyer (1864–97) *James Wyer (1897–1910) *Benjamin Knott (1910–?) *Benjamin & James Knott (?–1940) *James Bilham (1940–67)

References

External links

Windmill World
webpage on Caston Mill {{Windmills and Windpumps of East Anglia Windmills in Norfolk Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1864 Grade II* listed buildings in Norfolk Breckland District Grade II* listed windmills 1864 establishments in England