Union Mills, Burnham Overy

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Burnham Overy Mills
Water mill and mill tower, Burnham Overy Town (geograph 3763752).jpg
Origin
Mill nameUnion Mills
Mill location TF 8423 4260
Coordinates 52°57′35″N0°44′05″E / 52.95972°N 0.73472°E / 52.95972; 0.73472 Coordinates: 52°57′35″N0°44′05″E / 52.95972°N 0.73472°E / 52.95972; 0.73472
Operator(s)Private
Year built1737
Information
Purpose Corn mill
Type Tower mill
StoreysSix storeys
No. of sailsFour sails
Type of sails Double Patent sails
Windshaft cast iron
Winding Fantail
Auxiliary power Waterwheel, also a steam engine which was later replaced by a gas engine and then an oil engine
No. of pairs of millstonesTwo pairs, plus three pairs in the watermill
Size of millstonesTwo pairs 3 feet (910 mm) diameter, three pairs 4 feet (1.22 m) diameter

Union Mills or Roy's Mills are a Grade II listed [1] combined tower mill and watermill at Burnham Overy, Norfolk, England which has been converted to residential accommodation.

Listed building Protected historic structure in the United Kingdom

A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.

Tower mill type of vertical windmill

A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.

Watermill structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process

A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.

Contents

History

The watermill was built in 1737, this date being recorded on the watermill. [2] As originally built, it was a two storey mill. [1] Thomas Beeston was the miller in 1802. [2] The windmill was built in 1814 and bears a tablet inscribed T. B. 1814 PEACE, referring to the banishment of Napoleon to Elba in that year. [3] The watermill was probably raised by a storey at this date. [1] The mills were offered for sale by auction at the Norfolk Hotel, Norwich on 3 August 1825. The windmill was described as having five floors and the Patent sails had shutters made of copper. The mills were not sold. James Read took them, and worked them until his death in 1864. William Love Porritt, the son-in-law of James Read then took the mills. The mills were offered for sale by auction at the Hoste Arms Inn, Burnham Market on 13 July 1870. They were then being let to Porritt at an annual rental of £225. In 1893, the windmill was dismantled and the watermill fitted out with roller milling machinery. [3]

Napoleon 19th century French military leader and politician

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French as Napoleon I from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.

Elba Mediterranean island near Italy

Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the coastal town of Piombino, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, and the third largest island in Italy, after Sicily and Sardinia. It is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea about 50 kilometres (30 mi) east of the French island of Corsica.

Auction Process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, and selling the item to the highest bidder

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder. The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction in use today. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid required to be higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, bidders may call out their bids themselves, or bids may be submitted electronically with the highest current bid publicly displayed. In a Dutch auction, the auctioneer begins with a high asking price for some quantity of like items; the price is lowered until a participant is willing to accept the auctioneer's price for some quantity of the goods in the lot or until the seller's reserve price is met. While auctions are most associated in the public imagination with the sale of antiques, paintings, rare collectibles and expensive wines, auctions are also used for commodities, livestock, radio spectrum and used cars. In economic theory, an auction may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange.

In 1896, the mills had a steam engine as auxiliary power. This had been replaced by a gas engine by 1925. [2] In May 1935, the mill tower was burnt out in a fire. The tower was refitted, and the former conical roof replaced with two cowled ventilators. [3] An oil engine was the auxiliary power source in 1937. On 1 February 1953, the mills were flooded to a depth of 7 feet (2.13 m). The mills were still in use at this time but had ceased working by 1969. In 1999 the mills were purchased for conversion. A new ogee cap was constructed and fitted to the windmill tower. [2]

North Sea flood of 1953 Late January-early February 1953 North sea flood storm

The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.

Description

The windmill is a six storey tower mill with an ogee cap which has a gallery. There is a stage at third floor level. The mill had four double Patent sails carried on a cast iron windshaft. The windmill drove two pairs of French Burr millstones, [3] and was also capable of driving the three pairs of French Burr millstones in the watermill. [2]

The watermill is a three storey brick building with a roof of pantiles. It is powered by an undershot Poncelet waterwheel made by Whitmore & Binyon, the Wickham Market, Suffolk, millwrights. [1] The watermill drove three pairs of French Burr millstones and was also capable of driving the two pairs of French Burr millstones in the windmill. [3]

Pantile type of fired roof tile

A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in appearance and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses.

Jean-Victor Poncelet French engineer and mathematician

Jean-Victor Poncelet was a French engineer and mathematician who served most notably as the Commanding General of the École Polytechnique. He is considered a reviver of projective geometry, and his work Traité des propriétés projectives des figures is considered the first definitive text on the subject since Gérard Desargues' work on it in the 17th century. He later wrote an introduction to it: Applications d’analyse et de géométrie.

Wickham Market farm village in the United Kingdom

Wickham Market is a large village and electoral ward situated in the River Deben valley of Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coastal heritage area.

Millers

References for above:- [2] [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Historic England. "WATERMILL WITH TOWER WINDMILL AND INCLUDING MILL BRIDGE ATTACHED TO WEST OF MILL HOUSE, BURNHAM OVERY, KINGS LYNN AND WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK (1239092)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Burnham Overy Union towermill". Norfolk Mills. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Apling, Harry (1984). Norfolk Corn Windmills, Volume 1. Norwich: The Norfolk Windmills Trust. pp. 195–97. ISBN   0-9509793-0-9.
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