Post Mill

Framsden Mill is a post mill dating from around 1760, which was modernised in 1836 when it was raised and a roundhouse was built, as indicated by a date on a brick. The mill underwent restoration between 1966 and 1973. It features a timber-framed and weatherboarded buck with three floors and a felted roof, alongside a two-storey roundhouse made of red brick. The mill's winding mechanism is operated by a fantail mounted above the steps; while the fan carriage has been restored, the fantail itself is currently dismantled and stored inside the mill. One pair of patent sails remains intact. Most of the machinery dates from the 1836 modernisation, carried out by John Whitmore of Wickham Market, although the brakewheel is the original, modified to a clasp-arm construction. The windshaft, upright shaft, wallower, and spurwheel are all made of cast iron, with stone nuts also in cast iron and wooden cogs. The mill contains two pairs of underdriven millstones located in the breast. The sack hoist is powered by a pulley mounted behind the brakewheel. In the late 19th century, the buck was extended to the rear to accommodate a flour dresser, with the drive taken from the brakewheel via a skew gear mounted on a layshaft. This mill is a notable example of 19th-century modernisation of an older post mill, still retaining much of its 18th-century structure today.