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Converted to domestic use
The former tower mill was renovated and became a private residence.
Site overview
Great Bradley windmill was a brick tower corn mill in Suffolk, built in 1839 on the site of an earlier post mill. The earlier mill appeared on a 1793 map and was replaced by the tower mill for Robert Smith. The mill stood on the hill above Great Bradley and later ceased working.
By the later twentieth century it was derelict, but the tower survived and was later incorporated into domestic use. The surviving building is now known locally as The Old Windmill. Its working equipment is only partly documented, but the mill was a tower mill with a rotating cap and was winded by hand using an endless chain.
The site is now represented by a converted former mill tower rather than a complete working windmill.
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
Great Bradley windmill occupied a hilltop site at Great Bradley in Suffolk. An earlier post mill stood on the site and was marked on a St John's College map dated 1793. In 1839 that earlier mill was replaced by a brick tower mill built for Robert Smith.
The new mill was a tower mill, with brickwork rising to the top of the tower and a movable cap turned to face the sails into the wind. The cap was turned by hand using an endless chain. The mill functioned as a corn mill, although the detailed machinery, number of stones, and full miller sequence have not been established.
After working ceased, the tower survived in derelict condition. Later material identifies the building as The Old Windmill and describes its subsequent renovation and conversion into a private residence. The surviving fabric therefore represents the tower of a nineteenth-century wind-powered corn mill, adapted into domestic use after the end of milling.
Timeline
1793
Earlier post mill mapped
A post mill stood on the Great Bradley windmill site by 1793.
1839
Tower mill built
The earlier post mill was replaced by a brick tower mill built for Robert Smith.
1970–1979
Derelict tower photographed
The former tower mill survived in derelict condition during the later twentieth century.
Sources and records
Great Bradley local history page: The Old Windmill
Mills Archive catalogue entry: Tower mill, Great Bradley, derelict
Suffolk Mills Group list: The Windmills of Suffolk
Windmill World: Windmills of Suffolk
Mills Archive catalogue entry: Tower mill, Great Bradley, derelict
Suffolk Mills Group list: The Windmills of Suffolk
Windmill World: Windmills of Suffolk