Wendling postmill stood at Mill Farm. The mill buck was set on a roundhouse and the mill used patent sails to power 2 pairs of stones. A bake office was also run on the site.

To be SOLD
That well known WIND MILL with all its Going geers situated in WENDLING in Norfolk. Stands well for Trade; only four Miles from Dereham and eight from Swaffham. Also a good little DWELLING HOUSE near the said Mill, with an Acre of good Land and a Right of Commonage.
Immediate Possession may be had.
For further particulars apply to Mr. John Beeston of Wendling aforesaid.
Norfolk Chronicle - 25th June 1785

WENDLING
To be Sold by Auction by Jas. H. Greenacre
at the Kings Arms Hotel, East Dereham on Monday 6 January 1851 at 5 o'c
A very desirable Estate situate in Wendling in the county of Norfolk, comprising a convenient and substantial Brick and Tiled Messuage recently erected , with Baking Office and General Grocers and Drapers Shop, stabling, Outbuildings and Warehouses, Yards and Garden.
Also a capital POST WINDMILL driving two pairs of stones, with roundhouse, patent sails and all requisite machinery and going gears.
Also four Cottages. The entire property id Freehold.
The greater portion of the buildings are newly built and the machinery of the Mill has been recently fitted up with all the latest improvements. The whole Estate being in complete and perfect repair and situate within a few hundred yards of the Railway Station at Wendling and 3½ miles of East Dereham.
Apply to Messrs. J. B. & N. Girling, Solr. or the Auctioneer, East Dereham.
Norfolk Chronicle & Norwich Gazette - 21st & 28th December 1850

Mr. Edward Brian Clifton-Sprigg and wife Rosemary have purchased Mill Farm property north of the old A47 and are restoring the house and buildings to modern standards.
In the bakehouse a Peak runner stone had been let into the floor as a hearth-stone below the oven. On removal this was found to be lenticular in shape, 45 ins. in diameter, about 6 ins. in depth at the eye tapering to 2 ins. at the skirt. Furrows were cut for anticlockwise rotation, which could be accounted for by a head and tail arrangement of stones in the old post mill. On its curved upper surface were carved the initials R. W.
There is a local story (from Mr. Bennett) that the post mill originally stood on the south side of the road, but maps from Faden's of 1797 to the O.S. One Inch 1st Edition of 1838 all show it north of the road.
Site visit by Harry Apling - 18th June 1984

1774: Owners and inhabitants of the village consent to the erection of a windmill

1785: John Beeston, miller

June 1785: Mill advertised for sale

Faden's map 1797: Windmill

Poll Book 1802: Christopher Jarvis, miller

Bryant's map 1826: Windmill

Greenwood's map 1834: Windmill

1836: Christopher Jarvis, miller & baker

O.S. map 1838: Windmill

Index of Wills 1843: Christopher Jarvis, miller

1845: Matthew Jarvis, miller & baker

December 1850: Mill advertised for sale by auction

c.1853: Mill replaced by a towermill on the same site

1984: Edward Brian & Rosemary Clifton-Sprigg

Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2012