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Lockgate drainage mill, Freethorpe - the scoop wheel

Lockgate Mill is situated in the parish of Freethorpe, about three kilometres to the west of Great Yarmouth. The grade II listed windpump > Link was used to drain the Acle Marshes to the north of it, and is also known as Freethorpe Mill, Banham's Black Mill and Duffel's Mill. It was built of red brick that was tarred black between 1800 and 1825. A farm (Lockgate Farm) used to adjoin it and the remains of the farmhouse can still be seen on the small island between the tower mill and the railway line. Initially, the mill was worked by members of the Banham family and the final marshman who worked the mill left in the mid-1940s. The mill fell into disrepair and in 1953 the sails were blown off in a gale. An aluminium cap was fitted in 1988 to protect the structure. Much of the remaining equipment within the mill was destroyed in 2001 by a fire believed to have been caused by vandalism.