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Converted to domestic use
The former post-mill roundhouse and trestle were incorporated into a house with twentieth-century additions.
Site overview
High Easter Post Mill is represented by The Old Mill, a Grade II listed house incorporating the former roundhouse and trestle of a post mill. Specialist mill records identify the site as a wind-powered corn mill at High Easter, with the roundhouse and trestle surviving and the building converted to domestic use. The mill is associated with names including Fuller’s Mill, Webster’s Mill, Shead’s Mill and Welford’s Mill.
It was first recorded by 1680 and shown on eighteenth-century mapping, with a later post mill recorded at the same site. The working post mill was demolished in 1936, but the roundhouse and trestle remained. The listed structure preserves a late eighteenth-century brick cylindrical roundhouse within a later house, with twentieth-century additions and conversion fabric.
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
High Easter Post Mill stood in the parish of High Easter and is now represented by The Old Mill, a house formed around the former roundhouse and trestle. The site is listed at Grade II under the name The Old Mill. Specialist mill records identify it as a wind-powered post corn mill with the roundhouse and trestle surviving.
The mill is associated with several historic names, including Fuller’s Mill, Webster’s Mill, Shead’s Mill and Welford’s Mill. A windmill at High Easter is recorded from the seventeenth century, with later map records in 1777 and subsequent documentary references. The surviving listed fabric is described as late eighteenth century with twentieth-century domestic additions.
The listed structure consists of a brick cylindrical roundhouse, partly plastered, with an old plinth exposed. The upper cylindrical stage has a continuous band of windows with brick mullions. The building is arranged as two very tall storeys, with a single-storey curved extension wrapping around the north and west sides. The conversion gave the former mill base a substantial domestic form while retaining the circular mill structure at its core.
The post mill itself was demolished in 1936. Photographic records from 1980 show the surviving roundhouse, and modern mill records describe the roundhouse and trestle as remaining. The Old Mill therefore preserves the lower structure of a lost Essex post mill and demonstrates the domestic reuse of a former windmill base after the loss of the working wooden body, sails and machinery.
Timeline
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Grade II listed
The Old Mill at High Easter was protected as a Grade II listed building.
1680
High Easter windmill recorded
A windmill at High Easter was recorded by 1680.
1700–1799
Roundhouse built
The surviving brick cylindrical roundhouse is recorded as late eighteenth century.
1777
Post mill mapped
The High Easter post mill was recorded on eighteenth-century mapping.
1936
Post mill demolished
The working post mill body was demolished, leaving the roundhouse and trestle.
1980
Roundhouse photographed
The surviving roundhouse was photographed in 1980.
Sources and records
Historic England listed building record
Mills Archive site record
Windmill World site entry
Wikipedia list of windmills in Essex
Windmill Photographic Register
Property history note for The Old Mill, High Easter
Mills Archive site record
Windmill World site entry
Wikipedia list of windmills in Essex
Windmill Photographic Register
Property history note for The Old Mill, High Easter