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Truncated tower base survived
The surviving remains consist of the truncated tower base beside Monks Lode.
Site overview
Higney Mill, also known as Charterhouse Mill, was a tower windpump at Wood Walton Fen. It was built in 1874 and worked as part of the fen drainage landscape until 1924. The surviving structure is a truncated tower base beside Monks Lode, close to a later pump house.
It remains one of the visible industrial drainage remains within the wider Wood Walton Fen landscape.
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
Higney Mill was built at Wood Walton Fen in 1874. It was also known as Charterhouse Mill and functioned as a tower windpump, lifting water in the managed fen drainage system. The mill stood beside Monks Lode, in a landscape where wind-powered pumping was an important part of water control before later steam, diesel and electric systems replaced wind engines.
Higney Mill worked until 1924. After its working life ended, the upper structure was lost, leaving a truncated tower base. The remaining base survives near a more modern pump house and forms a visible remnant of the drainage history of Wood Walton Fen.
Timeline
1874
Higney Mill built
Higney Mill was built at Wood Walton Fen as a tower windpump.
1874–1924
Fen drainage windpump operated
The mill worked as a tower windpump in the Wood Walton Fen drainage landscape.
1924
Windpump working ended
The windpump ceased working in 1924.
Sources and records
Windmill World Cambridgeshire mill entry
List of windmills in Cambridgeshire
Geograph photograph record
Windmill Photographic Register
Great Fen heritage history
List of windmills in Cambridgeshire
Geograph photograph record
Windmill Photographic Register
Great Fen heritage history