Post mill

Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post.

All post mills have an arm projecting from them on the side opposite the sails and reaching down to near ground level.

The earliest remaining example of a non-operational mill can be found in Great Gransden in Cambridgeshire, built in 1612.

[1] Their design and usage peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries and then declined after the introduction of high-speed steam-driven milling machinery.

The earliest post mills were quite small, and this led to problems with stability as they were liable to blow down in strong winds.

Open trestle post mills are also found in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and in New England, USA.

In Suffolk, millwrights would build post mills mounted on tall, two or three storey roundhouses, as at Saxtead Green.

In eastern Europe, instead of a roundhouse an "apron" was fitted to the bottom of the body of the mill, enclosing the trestle and thereby affording protection from the weather.

Though similar in name and appearance, Dutch and German paltrok mills differ in historical and technical regard.

The central post, however, is short and, to provide stability, a rim bearing is added on a brick base, on which the millhouse rotates with numerous rollers.