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Polkey's Mill built
The three-storey tarred red-brick tower mill was built as part of the Reedham Marshes drainage group.
Site overview
Polkey's Drainage Mill stands on Reedham Marshes beside the River Yare and is also known as South Mill. It was originally one of an open group of three drainage mills with Cadge's Mill and North Mill, built to lift marsh water into the river. The three-storey tarred red-brick tower was probably built on the site of an earlier mill and incorporated beams from a smock mill.
A scoop wheel stood externally, and the mill formed part of the Reedham Marshes drainage system later supplemented by the 1881 steam engine house. The surviving mill is now part of the preserved Reedham Marshes mills landscape managed by Norfolk County Council, where it stands with Cadge's Mill and the steam engine house.
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
Polkey's Drainage Mill, also known as South Mill, stands on Reedham Marshes on the north side of the River Yare. It was built as a three-storey tarred red-brick tower windpump to lift water from the marshes into the river. The mill was probably built on the site of an earlier mill, and beams from a smock mill were incorporated into the tower when it was built.
It was one of an open group of three Reedham Marshes mills with Cadge's Mill and North Mill. The drainage group was later supplemented by steam pumping. In 1881 John Rose commissioned Reedham Marsh Steam Engine House, where a coal-fired steam engine could drive a turbine when there was insufficient wind for the mills.
The mill's working life formed part of that combined wind and steam drainage system. The restored tower now survives within the Reedham Marshes mills group, alongside Cadge's Mill and the steam engine house, as part of a preserved riverside drainage landscape on the Wherryman's Way.
Timeline
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External scoop wheel used
The drainage mill used an external scoop wheel to lift marsh water into the River Yare.
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Reedham Marshes mills preserved
Polkey's Mill survives as part of the preserved Reedham Marshes drainage-mill group.
1881
Steam pumping added nearby
Reedham Marsh Steam Engine House was commissioned to provide turbine pumping when wind was insufficient.
Sources and records
Norfolk Mills: Reedham Polkey's drainage windmill
Norfolk County Council: Reedham Marshes mills
Water, Mills and Marshes Reedham Marshes references
Windmill World Reedham Marshes entries
Norfolk County Council: Reedham Marshes mills
Water, Mills and Marshes Reedham Marshes references
Windmill World Reedham Marshes entries