Hickling Mill

Hickling Mill is a 19th-century grade II* listed windmill in Hickling Heath, Norfolk, England.[1]

Hickling Windmill
Hickling Mill
Origin
Mill location	TG 4086 2300
Coordinates	52°45′3″N 1°34′3″E
Operator(s)	Private
Year built	1818
Information
Purpose	Corn mill
Type	Tower mill
Storeys	Eight storeys
No. of sails	Four sails
Winding	Fantail
Fantail blades	Eight blades
No. of pairs of millstones	Three pairs

It was built of tarred brick in 1818 to a design known as a tower mill, a tapering circular building 8 storeys high with brickwork 30 inches (76 cm) thick at the base. Each floor has 4 windows to the four cardinal points of the compass although many are blocked up on the inside, especially on the north face. It is topped by a weatherboarded boat-shaped cap with a petticoat and fan cradle.

The mill was used for grinding wheat for flour and by the 1860s also included a bakery. Production ceased in 1904, at which time the sails and fantail were removed.[2]

After several changes of ownership the mill in 1934 came into the ownership of the Forbes family, who carried out major cap renovation in 1989. Otherwise Hickling Mill is one of the few windmills in the country to have been preserved in a largely unrestored condition. It still contains almost a complete set of main machinery and many of the original timber fittings and three sets of millstones.[3]