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Foundations remain
The post mill site is represented by surviving foundations.
Site overview
Henham Post Mill was a wind-powered post corn mill on rising ground outside Henham, on the road to Elsenham. Specialist mill sources identify the surviving site as Henham post mill, with foundations remaining. Local history writing describes the mill in 1895 as a fine post mill with a roundhouse, well placed outside the village.
Earlier map and documentary references place post mills at Henham from the medieval period, while the surviving site is associated with the later post mill shown on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century records. The mill was demolished in December 1902. By the late twentieth century only the lower remains survived, with photographic records describing the lower few feet of the roundhouse in 1978.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
Henham Post Mill stood on rising ground outside Henham, on the road towards Elsenham. It was a wind-powered post corn mill and formed part of a local group of nineteenth-century mills visible from the village, alongside a brick tower mill at Stansted and a post mill at Broxted.
Henham has early documentary associations with windmills, including medieval references to post mills. The surviving windmill site belongs to the later Henham post mill recorded in map and specialist mill lists. Windmill World identifies the site as Henham post mill and records the survival as foundations. The Mills Archive links the site with the Henham on the Hill post mill record.
Local history accounts describe the mill in 1895 as a fine post mill with a roundhouse, standing on rising ground outside the village. The same account places it within a working milling landscape in which three windmills were within walking distance. The mill’s working life ended soon afterwards, and it was demolished in December 1902.
The later remains are archaeological and structural rather than a standing windmill. Photographic records from 1978 describe the surviving lower few feet of the roundhouse. The site now preserves the foundation evidence of a lost Essex post mill and marks the position of a once-prominent village-edge milling landmark.
Timeline
1328
Early Henham mill reference
A post mill is recorded at Henham in early documentary windmill lists.
1678
Post mill mapped
A post mill at Henham was recorded on seventeenth-century mapping.
1895
Working village mill described
Henham Mill was described as a fine post mill with a roundhouse on rising ground outside the village.
1902
Post mill demolished
Henham Post Mill was demolished in December 1902.
1978
Roundhouse remains photographed
The lower few feet of the former roundhouse were photographed as surviving remains.
Sources and records
Windmill World site entry
Mills Archive site record
Henham History article: Henham in 1895
Wikipedia list of windmills in Essex
Windmill Photographic Register
Mills Archive site record
Henham History article: Henham in 1895
Wikipedia list of windmills in Essex
Windmill Photographic Register