1854
Tower mill built
The present tarred gault-brick tower mill is dated J.P./W.P. 1854 over the former main door.
Site overview
The Old Mill is a former tower mill at 61 Boxworth Road, Elsworth. Historic England records the listed name as The Old Mill and describes it as a tower mill, now a dwelling. The amended list entry dates the present structure by an inscription over the former main door: J.P./W.P. 1854.
Other photographic records also identify it as Elsworth Mill, Papworth's Mill, East Mill or Black Mill. The tower is built of tarred gault brick, tapering through four storeys, and now stands without its cap. It originally had floor sails and a gallery.
Historic England records that it remained in use until 1922 and was converted to domestic use around 1935. The surviving building is therefore a converted windmill tower, preserving the masonry body but no longer retaining the complete working apparatus of a windmill.
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
The former windmill at Elsworth is officially listed by Historic England as The Old Mill, with the statutory address 61 Boxworth Road. Specialist and photographic sources identify the same structure as Elsworth Mill and Papworth's Mill, with alternative names East Mill and Black Mill also recorded. The Historic England amended description states that the tower is dated J.P./W.P. 1854 on brick over the arch of the former main door.
Geograph material records that the 1854 tower replaced an earlier wooden smock mill, probably dating from around 1800, which was destroyed by fire in February 1854. The present mill was built as a tarred gault-brick tower mill. It tapers through four storeys and has round-headed openings at each floor level.
The list entry records that it originally had floor sails and a gallery. The mill remained in use until 1922. After working use ended, the cap and sails were lost and the building was adapted for domestic occupation.
Historic England records a single-storey extension and conversion to domestic use around 1935. The building remains a capless converted tower mill on Boxworth Road, with its external tower form surviving as the principal visible evidence of the former windmill.
Timeline
1922
Working use ended
Historic England records the mill as having remained in use until 1922.
1935
Converted to dwelling
The former tower mill was converted to domestic use around 1935.
1984
Grade II listing
The Old Mill was listed at Grade II.
1986
Listed entry amended
The listed building entry was amended to record the 1854 date and revised description.
Sources and records
Historic England listed building entry for The Old Mill, Elsworth
Windmill World entry for Papworth's Mill, Elsworth
Geograph photograph record for Elsworth Mill
Wikimedia Commons description of Elsworth Mill
Mills Archive database entry for Papworth's Mill, Elsworth
Windmill World entry for Papworth's Mill, Elsworth
Geograph photograph record for Elsworth Mill
Wikimedia Commons description of Elsworth Mill
Mills Archive database entry for Papworth's Mill, Elsworth