Peafield Mill Lakenham · Norfolk · England

Peafield Mill, also known at different times as Spratt's Mill and The Black Mill, was built at New Lakenham in 1824. The millwright was Henry Lock, and the mill was built for Thomas Spratt at a cost of more than £2,000. It was an eight-storey tower mill with a Norfolk boat-shaped cap, a gallery, four double-shuttered patent sails, and a six-bladed fantail.

Its 100-foot sails were struck by a chain pole and drove three pairs of 4 foot 6 inch French burr stones, two flour mills, and a jumper. A stage stood around the second floor, and the top of the tower had an independent ring of rollers between the cap and curb. The mill appears as a windmill on Bryant's map of 1826 and was associated with Thomas Spratt in Pigot's Directory in 1830.

It was advertised to let in April 1830, and Spratt's business effects and stock were advertised for auction in March 1833. During the mid nineteenth century the mill was worked by a succession of millers, including Charles Clare, James Faulke, Jonathan and Mark Feltham, and Barnabas Feltham. It was advertised for sale or private contract several times in the 1840s and 1850s.

Flour production ceased in 1870, and the mill changed to animal feed milling. A heavy gale on 26 January 1884 stripped the fantail from the mill and carried parts over 200 yards. By the 1890s Robert W. Fiddy was miller.

In August 1905 the mill was advertised for sale by auction and was bought by Charles Edward Woodrow. The Woodrow business operated Peafield Mills as a wind and steam milling and forage business. The mill was damaged by fire around 1914, and Martins of Beccles removed the sails in that year.

Electrically driven roller milling machinery was installed in 1920, with Russell Quantrill as miller. Milling continued until 1965, when C. E. Woodrow & Sons merged with R. J. Read Ltd. The mill was then used as a grain store for several years. In 1970 Norwich Corporation acquired it and partly converted the lower floors into living accommodation.

It was sold in 1990, after which the rest of the tower was converted to residential accommodation. The tower survived to its full height, though without its cap and sails, and remains one of the major surviving windmill towers in Norwich.