Site overview
Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill is a six-storey tower mill built in 1816 for Edmund Savory. It worked as a corn mill with three pairs of stones, double-patent sails on a cast-iron windshaft, and an ogee cap with gallery. The mill formed part of a wider milling complex including a watermill, steam mill, maltings, granaries, and farm buildings.
It last worked in 1919 and was sold in 1926 to Hugh Hughes, who had it converted into holiday accommodation after the machinery had been stripped out. Restoration work in 1957 provided a new cap, gallery, stocks, and sails. The mill was given to the National Trust in 1958.
Later repairs included new stocks and sails in 1985, while recent conservation work has addressed serious deterioration of the fanstage, sails, and fabric.
Map
History
Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill was built in 1816 for Edmund Savory, who was already running the Lower Mill watermill on the River Burn. The six-storey tower mill worked as a corn mill. It had an ogee cap with gallery, four double-patent sails carried on a cast-iron windshaft, and three pairs of millstones.
After Edmund Savory died in 1827, the mill passed to his son John, and then to the next generation of the Savory family. In 1888 the property was offered for sale as part of a wider milling complex comprising the windmill, a watermill driving three pairs of stones, a steam mill with a sixteen-horsepower steam engine driving four pairs of stones, a twenty-five-coomb maltings, granaries, farm buildings, and more than forty acres of land. The lot remained unsold, and the Savory family continued until the mill was sold in 1900.
It was later sold to Sidney Everett in 1910. The mill was tailwinded in 1914 and last worked in 1919. In 1926 it was sold to Hugh Hughes, an architect from Grantchester, who had the stripped tower converted into holiday accommodation.
Restoration in 1957 by Thompson's of Alford provided a new cap with gallery, stocks, sails, and stage. The mill was given to the National Trust in 1958. New stocks and sails were fitted in July 1985.
In the 2020s the building required major conservation work because of deterioration of the fanstage, sails, roof, and fabric, and the National Trust began works to make the structure safe and watertight while future use was considered.
Timeline
Mill passed to John Savory
Milling complex offered for sale
Mill sold to Sidney Dewing
Mill tailwinded
Windmill last worked
Mill converted to holiday accommodation
External restoration carried out
Mill given to National Trust
New stocks fitted
Conservation repairs began
Sources and records
National Trust page: Tower Windmill conservation
Wikipedia article: Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill
Britain Express page: Burnham Overy Staithe Tower Windmill