1824
Fort Green Mill built
Fort Green Mill was built at Aldeburgh as a four-storey tower corn mill.
Site overview
Fort Green Mill, also known as Aldeburgh Windmill, is a four-storey tower corn mill built in 1824. It stood at Aldeburgh and was later converted into residential accommodation in 1902. During the Second World War the former mill was used as a gun emplacement.
Its working form included four patent sails, a domed cap winded by a fantail, a cast-iron windshaft, and two pairs of millstones. The building survives as a private converted former windmill rather than as a working mill. Its coastal position and later residential conversion define its present character.
The main documented chronology is clear for construction, conversion, wartime use, and later private ownership, while the detailed miller sequence and closure date are less fully established in the available sources.
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
Fort Green Mill at Aldeburgh was built in 1824 as a tower corn mill. It was a four-storey tower mill fitted with four patent sails and a domed cap winded by a six-bladed fantail. Its machinery included a cast-iron windshaft and two pairs of millstones.
The mill became part of Aldeburgh's nineteenth-century milling landscape and is also known as Aldeburgh Windmill. In 1902 the building was converted into a house, ending its role as a conventional working mill. During the Second World War the former windmill was adapted for defensive use as a gun emplacement.
The tower later remained in private residential use. By the twenty-first century it was a distinctive converted former tower mill on the Aldeburgh seafront and was offered for sale in 2016. The surviving structure therefore represents a windmill tower whose industrial function has been replaced by domestic use, while its external tower form continues to mark its former purpose.
Timeline
1902
Converted to a house
The former tower mill was converted into residential accommodation.
1939–1945
Wartime gun emplacement
The converted former mill was used as a gun emplacement during the Second World War.
2016
Former mill offered for sale
The converted former windmill was put up for sale.
Sources and records
Fort Green Mill, Aldeburgh article
Windmill World entry: Fort Green Mill
Suffolk Mills Group material
Windmills of Suffolk reference material
Windmill World entry: Fort Green Mill
Suffolk Mills Group material
Windmills of Suffolk reference material