NHER 10406 (Building record) - Lockgate or Breydon North Wall Drainage Mill

May 1979. Visit. Lockgate Wind Pump.
Brick tower survives; main drive shaft of iron rather than wood (as at Stracey Arms) in two pieces joined at first floor level; shaft embossed Mitchdale, Norwich; but top not attached to wallower. Very large drive wheel to scoop shaft. Brake wheel survives; fantail lies on ground where it has fallen, and other oddments lie around. Original cast iron window frames of Venetian form. To northwest, unusually large contemporary brick cottage for millman.
E. Rose (NAU) 3 May 1979.

Marked on (S1). House demolished in 1980s.

April 1986. Listed, Grade II.
Present mill is late 19th century. Four storey tower. Cast iron windows second and cap floor. The shaft name is in fact T. Smithdale. Truck and centering wheels, curb track and rack, cap frame, fanstage, basebeam Y wheel, fanspinells, star and fan drive all remain.
Information from (S2).
E. Rose (NAU), 1 May 1986.

April 2001.
Damaged by fire.
E. Rose (NLA), 23 April 2001.

It is very difficult to judge whether this is the same as the Freethorpe Mill marked on (S3) or whether that is slightly further west - the shore of Breydon Water has changed.
E. Rose (NLA), 7 June 2002.

January 2023. Earthwork Survey and Photographic Survey.
An analytical earthwork survey undertaken ahead of proposed habitat improvement works identified the platform on which Lockgate Mill was constructed (Field E; Feature 15). This measures c.25m by 45m and has a maximum height of c.0.7m. The south-west edge of the platform is currently used by cattle to access water in the disused by-pass channel.
A photograph survey of the mill was also undertaken as part of this project. Some of the original external pumping machinery is still in situ, including an iron linking gear and wheels. Other part of the pumping gear are spread around the mill. The western side of the mill shows traces of where the scoopwheel housing once stood and there are remnants of a brick structure to the north. The interior was clearly in an unsafe state of disrepair, although some of the timber structures on the first and second floor remain and other elements of the internal workings of the mill are also still in situ.
See report (S4) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 August 2024.