NHER 4473 (Building record) - Former Corn Windmill known as Cooper's Mill, Walpole Highway

Windmill. Working 18 April 1953. O. G. S. Crawford.
Note by R. R. Clarke (NCM).

A tower mill, marked on (S1). However Mr Apling states it ceased working when the sails were removed in 1947, and afterwards worked by steam. But it seems odd that O. G. S. Crawford should have recorded it as a working windmill if the sails had gone.
E. Rose (NAU), 24 March 1982.

Ordnance Survey records say windmill was working 18 April 1933 not 1953 explaining discrepancy.
Ordnance Survey Records.
R. J. Rickett (NAU), 22 February 1990.

Son of Herbert Cooper, last miller, confirms sails removed 1947. Rex Wailes calls 'derelict' in 1949.
E. Rose (NAU), 6 April 1982.

October 1982.
Three storey tapering tower, becoming vertical above the third storey, then an extra storey probably of recent date. Brick, part rendered and painted dark green. No cap. Apparently used as store. (S2) claimed fragmentary sails in 1961 (was he quoting someone else, or does he mean the shaft alone remained?). (S2) also mentions a contemporary granary; this has apparently been rebuilt or recoated in modern brick. To the south is a grand late Victorian miller's house.
E. Rose (NAU), 28 October 1982.

August 1951. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description:
Tower mill. c.1820. Brick, rendered to third floor. 4 storeys, battered at third floor. Double doors to north and south. Original 3-light casements to each floor, 3 to east, 2 to south, 2 to west. Interior floors intact but no machinery. One ground floor beam inscribed TF 1743, re-used.
Information from (S3).
E. Rose (NAU), 20 May 1986.

See (S4).

March 2005. Building Survey.
Building recording in advance of redevelopment. The brick tower probably dates from the late 18th or early 19th centuries, with a possible 19th century extension from third floor level and a late 19th to early 20th century top floor. The mill cap was removed in 1969 and consequently the upper floors have rotted and collapsed. The second floor is still in place but in a dangerous condition. The first floor originally housed the millstones, the positions of which can still be seen. The first floor also contains a beam inscribed with the date 1743, which has probably be re-used from an earlier structure.
See report (S5) for further details. This work is also summarised in (S6).
J. Allen (NLA), 6 September 2005.