A former six-sailed Croxton tower mill site near Thetford, once used for corn and sawing.
Croxton towermill stood near Thetford and is recorded by Norfolk Mills as a rare six-sailed mill built and run as a combined corn mill and sawmill. On 10 March 1842 it caught fire in a gale after the sail striking chain became entangled and the sails ran out of control. The cap, sails and fantail were then blown completely off the tower.
Repairs were apparently carried out quickly, because the owner, John Read, advertised the mill for sale in April 1842. Sale notices described a brick tower windmill constructed for grinding corn or flour and sawing wood, with a modern dwelling house, stables, outbuildings and five acres of land in Croxton, within a mile of Thetford. The 1846 tithe award recorded the assigns of John Read Junior as owner and William Taylor as occupier.
Croxton towermill, near Thetford, is recorded as a rare six-sailed tower mill. Norfolk Mills describes it as having been built and run as a combined corn mill and sawmill. On 10 March 1842 the mill caught fire during a gale after the sail striking chain became entangled and the sails ran out of control.
The cap, sails and fantail were blown completely off the tower. The mill must have been repaired very quickly, because in early April 1842 the owner, John Read, advertised it for sale. The Norfolk Chronicle notice of 2 and 9 April 1842 described a modern and comfortable dwelling house with stables, outbuildings and a brick tower windmill for grinding corn and sawing wood, with five acres of land at Croxton within one mile of Thetford.
A further notice for auction at the Bell Inn, Thetford, on 4 June 1842 described the property as a very convenient newly built dwelling house and a brick tower windmill constructed for grinding flour and sawing wood at the same time. The whole property was freehold and lay in the parish of Croxton. A July 1842 letting notice again described the mill, house, five acres, stables and other outbuildings.
The 1846 tithe award and map recorded the assigns of John Read Junior as owner and William Taylor as occupier, with the holding described as house, mill and land of five acres. Later photographs of Hill House preserve the surrounding domestic and farm context, but the tower mill itself was no longer present in those images. No later working chronology or exact demolition date has been identified in the consulted sources.