Booton postmill was built in 1848 by Mr. R. George who brought the mill buck and timbers from at least one of the two older postmills at the Ollands in nearby Reepham.

The mill had a three storey buck that had been extended at the breast below the collar and was set over a two storey roundhouse with four 10ft high brick piers and a 24ft 3ins diameter base. Four double shuttered patent sails each with 7 bays of 3 shutters drove 2 pairs of stones. The 8 bladed multicoloured fantail was on a tailpole. Steps led up to a balcony porch with a gable end roof.

Philip Unwin's notes of 30th October 1973 mentioned that the elliptical spring that had come from Stoke Ferry explained the unusual distance from the pole end.

To be Let
With Possession at Michaelmas next
A Capital CORN WINDMILL with Roundhouse, driving two pairs of Stones with Winding Apparatus complete, situate at Boston next Reepham.
Apply to Mr. R. George, Reepham, Norfolk.
Norfolk Chronicle - 29th March 1851

TO BE LET, with Possession at Michaelmas next, a POST WINDMILL with Round House, driving two Pairs of Stones, with about 3½ acres of LAND, situate at Booton.
For further particulars enquire of Mr. R. George, Reepham.
Norfolk News - 11th April 1874

...In the Brewery House Yard can be seen an octagon shaped roof. This is the cover of the old brewery well. It is said to be about 100 feet deep. The cover, I, Harry Hawes did, as the date proves. Mr. Samuel Bircham of 46, Parliament Street, wanted the oak work to be of very old wood so I told him about the old oak of Booton Windmill. He made arrangements for me to meet him and we went along and saw the old oak by going up the Norwich Road. We went through a gateway without the miller's knowledge and Mr. Bircham said at once "Hawes, be down there in the morning and buy the lot at any price." Away I went in the morning ... and had the deal. You would be surprised at the language (the miller) used when he made out what I wanted the wood for. I had to use Mr. Bircham's initials, S and B, entwined in the weathervane.
Harry Hawes - b.1863

When Booton postmill was dismantled in.1900 some of the wood was then used to make the roof over the well outside Reepham Old Brewery House. The weathervane has gone but the date of 1900 is still visible on the wall of the well. The owner of the hotel carried out further repairs to the well in 1996.

This roundhouse has been rebuilt as the Windmill recording studio, primarily for drum soundtracks. This appears to have taken place around 2017.  It has been rebuilt as a single storey structure, so the tapering tops of the piers have been removed. The walls are made of compacted straw blocks, with the outer faces of the piers visible on the outside (I assume the outer faces were part of the original roundhouse walls). The roof is tiled with cedar shingles. I imagine the acoustics would be somewhat different from those of the smock mill stump at Winfarthing with its wooden framed walls.
Sue Burden - 23rd February 2022

1840s: Mill built by Mr. R. George using buck and timbers from Reepham postmills

White's 1845: Robert Barrett, corn miller

1845-1850: Worked by Robert Barrett, farmer from Reepham

1853-1872: Daniel Burroughs

White's 1854: Daniel Burroughs, corn miller

White's 1864: Daniel Burroughs, corn miller

1875-1878: Charles Tibbenham, miller

Kelly's 1879: William Neal, miller

White's 1883: Edward George Melton, miller

O.S. map 1885: Mill

1888: William Stackwood, miller

White's 1890: Charles Edward Stackwood, miller

1890-1892: Charles Edward Stackwood

Kelly's 1892: Charles Edward Stackwood, miller (wind)

c.1895: Mill ceased production

c.1900: Dismantled

1973: Reginald Gray, Mill House

2009: Ash Soan, Mill Cottage

24th September 2017: Google Earth image shows a roundhouse-like structure with a grey conical roof

Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2004