Suffolk

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Drinkstone Post Mill

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This post mill is one of the most important in the county and indeed East Anglia. The main post dates to 1587 and the crown tree is probably even older.  It is amongst the most interesting examples in the UK, having worked almost continuously for 300 years, documentation recording changes in 1689 and again in 1729 when the buck was enlarged, with further changes after that including the construction of the roundhouse.  Many examples of this sort of mill have been lost over the years, being replaced with larger tower mills, and this is quite a dramatic survivor. 

Two phases of extensive repair works were undertaken, the first necessitating the removal and replacement of the weatherboarding and restructuring of the buck.  Wherever possible, original framing was retaining, and a variety of techniques were employed to strengthen the timbers to ensure their survival. The tailpole was replaced, the windshaft craned out for remedials in the workshop and then replaced, and in a second phase of work the distorted walls of the roundhouse were stabilised.