Monument record MDR7132 - Seal Windmill (site of), Netherseal

(SK 278 135) 'Seal Mill' named on OS map of 1835, plus windmill symbol. (1) 'Seal Mill', set within circular enclosure, shown on the 1887 OS map. (2) Windmill not depicted on the 1925 and later edition, but circular enclosure remains. (3-4) Probable stonework enclosure of post medieval date, seen as an asymmetric curvilinear enclosure, defined by 1 ditch, 24m by 20m. Centred at SK 2785 1351. Mapped using good quality AP's. (Morph No. FR.101.2.1) This enclosure once surrounded a windmill (noted on first edition maps) but there was no evidence of the windmill on available photography. The circular enclosure is now part of the garden adjoining Windmill Farm. (5) The windmill at Netherseal was about 3/4 of a mile north-west of the village. The mill is not listed by Farey in 1808 but is shown on the first OS map in 1834 when it appears as a post mill, although at that time it was in Leicestershire. It was offered for sale by auction in 1841 according to the Derby Mercury of November 3 as follows: 'Newly erected Post Mill with round house and seven acres of land, near the village of Netherseal'. In 1843, under the Tithe Award, the mill and adjacent property was owned by Reuben Stevenson, with the family retaining control throughout its life. It was worked until about 1905 (when it appears as a 'windmill' on the OS map). Several photographs taken at the turn of the 19th century give a clear picture of the mill. The white painted, horizontally boarded buck, which has a curved roof, sits on the top of a tall, slender, brick round house with external buttresses. The round house, most unusually, had four round windows just below the curb (assuming it was a Midland type mill). The skirt does not appear to be complete but the tailpole and ladder were still in place. There were four sails, two common and two spring, complete with shutters, mounted in a double poll end. In 1994 the site, behind Windmill Farm, did not show any evidence of the mill structures, but a circular hedge enclosure, some 25 yards in diameter, denotes its location. There are several fragments of broken grey millstones which apper to have been about 5ft 4ins diameter in the garden, and also next door at 'The Mires'. (6)