North Creake Towermill North Creake · Norfolk · England

North Creake towermill was a small red-brick corn mill. Norfolk Mills records that, although it had five storeys, the tower was only about thirty feet high. It ran two pairs of stones and had a Norfolk boat-shaped cap with a petticoat and fantail. The mill was described as newly erected in 1820.

In February 1820 the mill was advertised for sale by auction at the Lord Nelson Inn, Fakenham. The notice described a messuage or tenement with about half an acre of land and a newly erected tower windmill with going gears and tackle, situated in North Creake. In July 1825 the property was advertised privately as a desirable situation for a miller and baker on a small scale, comprising a brick and tiled messuage, baking office, tower windmill and about half an acre of arable land. The advertisement stated that the mill was the only one in the parish and was calculated to command a respectable home trade.

The Cuthbert family were associated with the mill in the middle of the nineteenth century. James Cuthbert senior was recorded as corn miller and baker in 1836 and 1845, and James Cuthbert junior was recorded as miller in 1854 and 1855. The mill was sold by auction in June 1855 with dwelling house, baking office, outbuildings and garden. John Smith was recorded as miller from 1858 and as baker and miller in 1864 and 1879. In 1881 John Smith was subject to liquidation by arrangement, and the mill was advertised to let or sell. November 1881 sale notices described the property as an old-established brick tower windmill with two pairs of stones and other mill fittings, together with bake office, dwelling house and about half an acre of land.

Later records show the mill's decline and survival. In 1884 J. and H. Goshawk advertised for a man to work the windmill and assist in the bake office. The 1886 Ordnance Survey map marked the site as Windmill (Corn). Harry Apling recorded that the mill was dismantled, refloored and had a staircase built, perhaps when wings were added to Mill House sometime after 1900. By 1936 the tower was being used as a store. In 1981 the mill tower was still standing, without machinery but with floors and staircases reinstated, and in 1990 the tower still stood.