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Scoop wheel drainage use
The tarred red-brick tower used sails to drive a scoop wheel for drainage.
Site overview
Boyce's Dyke Mill was a drainage wind pump at Norton Subcourse, built just south of the road and north-east of Nogdam End. The mill had a tarred red-brick tower, and its sails drove a scoop wheel for marsh drainage. The consulted sources give limited development detail, but the site is associated with a drainage mill refitting in 1861 and appears on Ordnance Survey mapping as a windmill site.
By 1989 the tower had been reduced to two storeys and was derelict. A segmented conical roof had been installed earlier, but several sections had fallen in. Internally, a ladder to the first floor survived, and a derelict corrugated-iron shed remained attached to the mill.
The surviving site is therefore documented chiefly as a reduced drainage-mill tower rather than a complete working mill.
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
Boyce's Dyke Mill was a drainage wind pump at Norton Subcourse, close to Nogdam End. It was built just to the south of the road and north-east of Nogdam End, where it formed part of the drained marsh landscape around the River Yare. The mill had a tarred red-brick tower.
Its wind-powered sails drove a scoop wheel, moving water from the drainage system. A Smithdale millwright reference records that a drainage mill at Norton Subcourse was to be refitted in 1861, and this mill is identified as probably Boyce's Mill. The source notes that the mill had patent sails later, although Smithdale quoted for common sails.
By the late twentieth century the structure had lost its working form. In 1989 the tower had been reduced to two storeys and was derelict. A segmented conical roof had been fitted at some earlier point, but several of its sections had fallen in.
A ladder to the first floor still remained inside, and a derelict corrugated-iron shed adjoined the tower. No later working restoration is identified in the consulted sources.
Timeline
1861
Drainage mill refitting recorded
A drainage mill at Norton Subcourse, probably Boyce's Mill, was recorded as due to be refitted.
1884
Windmill shown on Ordnance Survey map
The site appears on the 1884 Ordnance Survey map.
1989
Derelict two-storey tower recorded
By 1989 the mill had been reduced to two storeys, with a damaged roof, internal ladder, and adjoining derelict corrugated-iron shed.
Sources and records
Norfolk Mills page: Norton Boyce's Dyke drainage pump
Norfolk Mills page: Smithdale of Norwich millwrights
Geograph windmills gazetteer: Boyce's Dyke Mill
Mills Archive database entry: Boyce's Dyke Mill, Norton Subcourse
Norfolk Mills page: Smithdale of Norwich millwrights
Geograph windmills gazetteer: Boyce's Dyke Mill
Mills Archive database entry: Boyce's Dyke Mill, Norton Subcourse