Trestle (mill)

For other uses, see Trestle (disambiguation).

The trestle of a post mill is the arrangement of the main post, crosstrees and quarterbars that form the substructure of this type of windmill.^[1] It may or may not be surrounded by a roundhouse. Post mills without a roundhouse are known as open trestle post mills.^[2]

A Trestle Mill.

A mill's trestle.

A trestle mill is a variety of smock mill, usually without weatherboards, formerly used for drainage in the Norfolk Broads.^[3] Examples can be found at Horning,^[4] Ludham^[5] and St Olaves.^[6]

A well preserved example of a timber crosstree, from the trestle of a medieval windmill, was excavated by archaeologists at Humberstone, near Leicester, in 2007.^[7]

References

1. Farries 1982, pp. 26–27.
2. Coles Finch 1933, p. 290.
3. Smith 1990, p. 15.
4. Smith 1990, pp. 28, 55.
5. Smith 1990, pp. 30, 56.
6. Smith 1990, p. 46.
7. Thomas 2008.

Sources

• Farries, Kenneth G. (1982). Essex Windmills, Millers and Millwrightes. Vol. Two: A Technical Review. London and Edinburgh: Charles Skilton. ISBN 0-284-98637-2.
• Smith, Arthur C. (1990). Drainage Windmills of the Norfolk Marshes. Stevenage: Arthur Smith Publication. ISBN 0-9515766-0-7.
• Coles Finch, William (1933). Watermills and Windmills. London: C. W. Daniel.
• Thomas, J. (2008). "Excavation of a Medieval Post-Mill Mound at Manor Farm, Humberstone" (PDF). University of Leicester Archaeological Services. Retrieved 4 December 2022.