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MONUMENT NO. 369030

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Windmill mound surviving as earthwork within Wimpole Park. A post-mill is shown at this location on a map of 1638 but subsequently fell into disuse. An icehouse was inserted into the mound in the late 17th or early 18th century, shown on a design plan for the North Park by Robert Greening, circa 1752 and again on Robert Withers' map of the Park, circa 1815. Thereafter the mound was planted with trees as a feature in the Park. The mound is visible on 2008 lidar and was mapped as part of the NAIS South West Cambridgeshire Project.

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Mound in Wimpole Park at TL 3317 5126 was on the site of a post mill,
but, from its appearance could possibly be a small motte. It is
circular, 100 ft in diameter, 3-4 ft high with a flat top 65 ft
across and a hollow 35 ft across and 2 1/2 ft deep in the centre. A
dry ditch 22-30 ft wide, 3 ft deep and 11-15 ft across the flat
bottom, crossed on the NW by a causeway 8-10 ft wide, surrounds it.
There are very slight traces of an outer bank 15-20 ft wide and 6 ins
high. (1)

The mound is as described above and now supports several trees.

It is not readily apparent as to whether it pre- or post-dates
the rig and furrow but it is located next to an old road and is
set mainly in one strip system and partly encroaches another
which tends to suggest a later date. No foundations are visible
on top. Published 25" survey revised.

The size, general construction and topographical situation of
this feature all suggest it to be a mill mound; field name
evidence supports this classification. (2)

TL 3316 5126 (FCE). The feature is definitely not a motte but is a
windmill mound. Otherwise as described by authorities 1 and 2. A four
-sail wooden post-mill on a mound is shown at this location on a map
of 1638 (3a). The mound was later planted with trees as part of the
landscaping of Wimpole Park (TL 35 SW 38).

Surveyed at 1:1000 scale by RCHME; plans and descrptive text are held
in the NMR. (3)

Re-examined in January 1997 as part of a wider survey of Wimpole Park by the RCHME on behalf of the National Trust. Documentary research revealed that the windmill was disused towards the end of the 17th century as the landscape park developed. Thereafter, an icehouse was inserted into the mound, probably in the later 17th or early 18th century, and shown on Robert Greening's design plan for the north part of the Park c 1752, and again on Robert Withers' plan of Wimpole Park c 1815. The large hollow, some 6m across and 0.7m deep, in the centre of the mound is the site of the brick-lined ice chamber. In the later part of the 19th century, the mound was planted as a parkland feature, and remains so today. A full report with survey plans is available in the NMR archive. (4)

The windmill mound, which may have origins in the medieval period, is visible as an earthwork on 2008 lidar centred at TL 3316 5126.
(5-6)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England 1968 An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire. Volume one : west Cambridgeshire

Page(s)225

( 2) Field Investigators Comments

F1 BHS 09-MAR-73

(3) Field Investigators Comments

Everson, P 29-Nov-1984 RCHME Field Investigation

(3a) Externally held archive reference

Hare B. 1638. Estate Map (BM Maps 6.c. 55)

(4) Field Investigators Comments

RCHME: Wimpole Park Survey, January 1997 - March 1999: Paul Pattison and Moraig Brown

(5) Light detection and ranging (lidar) airborne survey

CUCAP Wimpole Lidar DTM 04-SEP-2008

(6) Wimpole Park, Wimpole, Cambridgeshire. Medieval settlement, post-medieval park and gard

Page(s)30-31

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WIMPOLE PARK
WIMPOLE

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Pleasure grounds, formal gardens and landscape park to Wimpole Hall covering an area of 200 hectares. The park was first enclosed as a deer park in 13...

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