The Mount: a medieval windmill mound 670m south of Bleasby Grange

Reasons for Designation

Post mills were the form of windmills in the medieval period in which the wooden superstructure rotated about a central vertical post. The central post was mounted on cross timbers which were stabilised by being set into a mound. This mound might be newly built but earlier mounds were also frequently reused. The whole superstructure of such a mill was rotated to face into the wind by pushing a horizontal pole projecting from the mill on the opposite side from the sails. The end of this pole was supported by a wheel and rotation eventually resulted in a shallow ditch surrounding the mill mound. Post mills were in use from the 12th century onwards. No medieval examples of the wooden superstructures survive today but the mounds, typically between 15m and 25m in diameter, survive as field monuments. In general, only those mounds which are components of larger sites or which are likely to preserve organic remains will be considered worthy of protection through scheduling. However, some mills reused earlier mounds, such as castle mottes and barrows, which are worthy of protection in their own right.

The remains of the medieval windmill site at The Mount survive in very good condition. The mound, ditch, ramp and outer bank all survive as substantial earthworks little altered by later activity. Buried archaeological deposits, including evidence for the construction and use of the windmill, are believed to survive intact. Partial infilling of the ditch will have resulted in the preservation of organic remains such as timber and cloth, and environmental material such as pollen and seeds will provide information about the landscape in which the earthworks were set. In addition, the early ground surface preserved beneath both the mound and the outer bank will provide evidence for previous land use on the site, and for the date and origin of the mound.

Details

The monument includes The Mount, a medieval windmill mound 670m south of Bleasby Grange. It is thought to represent the site of Bleasby Mill which is referred to in documentary sources of the mid-13th century, however, it was already in existence in the 12th century when the adjacent road layout was established, and this may indicate the reuse of an earlier feature such as a burial mound.

The Mount lies on the former boundary between the medieval townships of Bleasby and Collow, at the corner of a field called Mill Hill. The mound itself, on which the windmill would have been erected, is circular in plan and rounded in profile, measuring about 20m in diameter and up to 2.4m high. Near the centre of the mound is a shallow pit about 1.5m in diameter, now largely infilled, which was used as a rubbish pit in the 19th century. This pit may mark the former position of the wooden post on which the windmill was supported. Buried remains of the windmill structure are expected to be preserved within the mound.

The mound is surrounded by a dry ditch, up to 5m wide, from which material used in the construction of the mound was excavated. Now between 0.5m and 1m in depth, it is crossed on the south side by a causeway which extends further southwards as a ramp, which would have provided vehicular access to the windmill. The ditch is in turn surrounded by an outer bank, also about 5m wide, which stands to a height of about 0.3m.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

22769

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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