Building record MDR5887 - Tower Mill, The Common, South Normanton

The substantial remains of an 18th century red brick tower with a house built onto the east side stand near the former Normanton Common. The windmill tower was connected to a dwelling prior to 1915. It was possibly built with hand-made bricks from the adjoining brickyard. (1, 3, 4) This small tower mill was built on Normanton Common at a time when it was an isolated place. It has now been converted into a house and stands about 200 yards back from a busy local road. It does not appear on the 1836 OS map or on the 1840 Tithe Map and was first shown on the OS map of 1880. However, it must have been built some years before that date and the listings of millers for the town may indicate that it was built about 1850 to 1860. It was shown on the 1905 OS map and sometime about then it was converted to become part of a house. It stands as a cement-rendered brick tower which is 2 storeys high and about 24ft diameter at the base. It is quite sharply-waisted, suggesting that it may have had its height reduced at some point. It is surmounted by a peaked, octagonal-tiled roof. No machinery remained inside the mill in 1995. (5)