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Wooden windshaft and scoop wheel used
Common sails connected to a wooden windshaft and drove a large scoop wheel on the north side of the tower.
Site overview
Pettingill's Drainage Mill stood on Haddiscoe Island and was built in about 1800. The three-storey tarred tower had a large scoop wheel attached on the north side, housed in a wooden shelter. The cap was turned to wind by a tailpole, and common sails were connected to a wooden windshaft.
The mill is one of the Haddiscoe Island drainage mills and is also associated with the Seven Mile House group in conservation records. Later surveys describe it as incomplete and maintained as a dwelling, while wider conservation evidence identifies Pettingill's and Six Mile House as semi-derelict survivors among the Haddiscoe Island drainage mills. The available record confirms its drainage function, approximate date, machinery arrangement and surviving incomplete status.
Map
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No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
Pettingill's Drainage Mill was built on Haddiscoe Island in about 1800. It was a three-storey tarred tower drainage pump with a large scoop wheel attached on the north side. The scoop wheel was housed in a wooden shelter.
The cap was turned to face the wind by a tailpole, and the common sails were connected to a wooden windshaft. High's Mill on Halvergate Marshes and Pettingill's were identified as the only two Norfolk pumps known to have had a wooden common pole driving the scoop wheel. Pettingill's formed part of the drainage-mill group on Haddiscoe Island, where conservation records identify four drainage mills and a steam engine surviving into the modern landscape: Toft Monks, Langley Detached, Pettingill's and Six Mile House.
Those records describe Pettingill's and Six Mile House as semi-derelict, while a drainage-mill remains report describes Pettingill's as incomplete and maintained as a dwelling. The site therefore survives as a transformed and incomplete drainage-mill structure rather than a complete working windpump.
Timeline
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Wooden common pole recorded
The mill was one of two Norfolk pumps known to use a wooden common pole to drive the scoop wheel.
1800
Pettingill's Mill built
The three-storey tarred tower drainage pump was built on Haddiscoe Island around 1800.
2015
Semi-derelict survivor recorded
Conservation-area evidence recorded Pettingill's among the surviving Haddiscoe Island drainage mills and described it as semi-derelict.
Sources and records
Norfolk Mills: Haddiscoe Pettingill's drainage windmill
Halvergate Marshes Conservation Area Appraisal
Mills Archive report on significant drainage windmill remains
Norfolk drainage windmill listing references
Halvergate Marshes Conservation Area Appraisal
Mills Archive report on significant drainage windmill remains
Norfolk drainage windmill listing references