1790
Holt tower mill built
The five-storey brick tower mill was built around 1790.
Site overview
Holt tower mill was a five-storey brick corn mill built around 1790. It had four double-shuttered sails, each with eight bays of three shutters, driving two pairs of stones. The boat-shaped cap had a gallery and petticoat and was winded by an eight-bladed fan.
Unusually, the stage was set around the first floor. In 1792 Charles Kendle advertised the newly erected windmill for sale with a roundhouse, accounting house, lodging room, horse mill for flour dressing, two granaries, cart and wagon lodge, stables, hayhouse and freehold land. Later photographs show the mill as a prominent feature in views from Spout Hills.
The available record identifies the mill's form and early sale history, but no complete survival or final closure sequence is recorded here.
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
Holt tower mill stood as a five-storey brick corn mill built around 1790. It had four double-shuttered sails, each with eight bays of three shutters, and these drove two pairs of stones. The boat-shaped cap had a gallery and petticoat and was turned by an eight-bladed fan.
The mill was unusual because its stage was set around the first floor rather than higher on the tower. In 1792 Charles Kendle advertised the property as a capital and newly erected windmill in Holt. The sale notice described a roundhouse fitted up to contain twenty lasts of corn, with an accounting house, lodging room, horse mill for dressing flour and all necessary apparatus.
The property also included two new granaries, a lodge for carts and wagons, stables, a hayhouse and two and a half acres of freehold land. Later images show the mill in views of Holt from Spout Hills, including sail repairs around 1905. The available evidence establishes the mill's late eighteenth-century construction, machinery and trading premises, but does not identify a secure final working date or surviving complete structure.
Timeline
1792
Newly erected mill advertised
Charles Kendle advertised the newly erected windmill with roundhouse, horse mill, granaries, stables and freehold land.
1905
Sail repairs photographed
The mill was photographed during sail repairs around 1905.
Sources and records
Norfolk Mills: Holt tower mill
Norfolk Chronicle sale notices
Windmill World Norfolk windmill listing
Historic photographic records of Holt tower mill
Norfolk Chronicle sale notices
Windmill World Norfolk windmill listing
Historic photographic records of Holt tower mill