Site overview
Thorndon post mill was a wind-powered corn mill with a tall three-storey brick roundhouse. The roundhouse was built in 1820 and formed the base of the former post mill. The mill itself was later demolished, but the circular brick base survived with its shallow conical roof.
The structure was listed at Grade II in 1988 and has since been adapted from its original milling role while retaining its identity as the former mill base.
Map
History
Thorndon post mill stood in the village of Thorndon as a wind-powered corn mill. Its surviving roundhouse dates from 1820 and is built of red brick with narrow white-brick bands at the upper floor levels. The building is circular in plan, rises through three storeys, and has a shallow conical roof.
The former mill had the characteristic post-mill body above the roundhouse, with the roundhouse enclosing and protecting the lower structure. The mill body was demolished in the twentieth century, leaving the brick base as the principal surviving element. The roundhouse was later used as a store and was listed at Grade II in 1988.
Later conversion retained the roundhouse as the historic core of the former mill site.
Timeline
Mill body demolished
Roundhouse listed
Sources and records
Suffolk Mills Group windmills gazetteer
Windmill World site entry
Mills Archive catalogue entry