Hunsett Windmill

Hunsett Drainage Mill
Windmill
Hunsett Drainage Mill
Country	England
State	Norfolk
Region	East of England
District	North Norfolk
Municipality	Stalham
Location	River Ant near Stalham
- coordinates	52°45′40.66″N 1°30′06.13″E / 52.7612944°N 1.5017028°E / 52.7612944; 1.5017028Coordinates: 52°45′40.66″N 1°30′06.13″E / 52.7612944°N 1.5017028°E / 52.7612944; 1.5017028
Founded	1860
Owner	Privately Owned
Visitation	Not open to the Public
Hunsett Mill within Norfolk
Website: www.hunsettmill.co.uk
Map Ref: TG364239

Hunsett Mill is located on the east bank of the River Ant one mile north of Barton Broad in the English county of Norfolk. The Windmill is 1.2 miles south west of the town of Stalham. The mill structure is a grade II listed building.

The Windmill was built in 1860 and is constructed of red bricks. The mill has a White boat shaped cap sails and a fantail. The windpump once ran two scoop wheels. The tower had four patent sails. The mill is approximately 12 m high, and has been visually retained in its original historic condition, even though internal works to the mill in the 1960s have removed all mill equipment previously installed in the brick structure. The mill is part of the large historic pumping mill system characteristic to the Broads, and is Grade II listed. (List of drainage windmills in Norfolk) The house adjacent to the mill has originally been built around the same time as the mill, but to less good standards than the mill itself. The house was built on a little raised earth mount to prevent flooding, and consisted of two spaces for the Millkeeper, a ground floor room and an upper floor room connected by a staircase. Due to its original limitations and due to repeated flooding, the Mill Keepers house has been remodelled and extended extensively, in the 1910s, 1940s, 1950s, 1970s and in 2008. Hunsett Mill is probably the most photographed windmill on the Broads appearing as it does on most postcards. This is due to its chocolate box picture setting. The Mill is quite hard to get to, being at the Northern end of the Norfolk Broads network and it has no road access. Hunsett Mill is privately owned.

The site has probably been occupied by pumping structures for several centuries, but all existing structures on site date from 1860 or later. Embedded in the stonework of the Mill is a Datestone inscribed HUNSETT 1698 which is presumed to be originating from an earlier mill on the site. The historic mill and the mill keepers house were used for water pumping functions until approximately 1910. Since then the mill has not been used and the internals except for the cap were gutted in the 1950s/ 60s. The Hunsett Mill house has been used over the last decades as a stand-alone primary residence and holiday home. Major damage was caused to the sails of the windmill in the Great storm of 1987, which resulted in one of the sails being completely replaced with wood especially shipped all the way from Canada. On 5 May 2007 another storm caused the fan to be torn of the fanstage which was repaired in the summer of 2008.