2007
TG3923 : Britain's tallest towermill - Sutton Mill
taken 17 years ago, near to Sutton, Norfolk, England
Britain's tallest towermill - Sutton Mill
The more than 200 years old towermill has survived lightning, gales and fire but is now in urgent need of repairs. The 24 metres (79.5 ft) tall mill is not only grade II listed but on the list of Buildings at Risk. Although still fairly sound structurally, water has started to leak through holes in the damaged boat-shaped cap, parts of which have started to fall off.
After grinding corn, the mill was producing animal feed in 1940 when a lightning strike started a fire which ended its days as a working mill. Until 2006 the building was visited by thousands annually as a bygones museum, by people who came to see an important piece of Norfolk's heritage and the extensive collection gathered there by Chris Nunn. Presently the mill belongs to Yesterday’s World, an East Sussex-based company which runs historical attractions, including one on Yarmouth’s Marine Parade. Initially they had tried to keep the mill open as a tourist attraction but are now saying that it is no longer economically viable. It closed as a museum in 2008.
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Update: April 2018
In mid-April 2018 the towermill (it has since lost its cap), together with an adjacent four-bedroom bungalow set in three acres of ground, was sold by online auction to a private buyer, dashing the hopes of campaigners, the National Millwrighting Centre CIC, who had tried to buy the historic building with the aim to create a National Milling and Millwrighting Academy, due to lack of funds. The bungalow alone sold for £305,000.
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