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Newnham Windmill mapped
Newnham Windmill was recorded on first-edition Ordnance Survey mapping.
Site overview
Newnham Windmill stands at Newnham, south of Daventry. It is recorded as a surviving tower mill converted to an observation tower. The mill appears in Northamptonshire windmill listings as a tower mill at the supplied coordinates, and older industrial archaeology references record Newnham Windmill on historic mapping, later also marked as Old Windmill.
The available evidence identifies a surviving tower-mill structure and its later conversion, but provides limited detail on the mill's construction, machinery, named operators or exact closure date. The site is therefore best understood as a former wind-powered corn mill whose tower has survived through reuse, with its present character defined by conversion rather than restored milling function.
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
Newnham Windmill stands in the village of Newnham, south of Daventry. It is recorded in modern windmill inventories as a surviving tower mill converted to an observation tower. Earlier industrial archaeology references place Newnham Windmill on the first-edition Ordnance Survey mapping and later on the 1912 one-inch mapping as Old Windmill.
These records confirm the site as a recognised historic windmill location with an extant tower, but they do not provide a full account of the working machinery, sail arrangement, millwright, ownership sequence or final working date. The present form is one of reuse: the mill survives not as an operating corn mill but as a converted tower structure. The evidence supports a cautious account centred on location, former tower-mill function and later conversion.
Its survival as an observation tower preserves the vertical shell of the historic mill while changing its use and removing the working milling character.
Timeline
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Converted to observation tower
The surviving tower mill was converted to use as an observation tower.
1912
Old Windmill mapped
The site was marked as Old Windmill on the 1912 one-inch Ordnance Survey mapping.
Sources and records
Windmill World entry: Newnham windmill
Council for British Archaeology Group 9 Bulletin checklist of Northamptonshire windmills
Historic Ordnance Survey map references
Mills Archive entry: Tower mill, Newnham
Council for British Archaeology Group 9 Bulletin checklist of Northamptonshire windmills
Historic Ordnance Survey map references
Mills Archive entry: Tower mill, Newnham