Motcombe

Parish Motcombe (north Dorset)

O.S Grid Reference ST 867 242 [Lat 51.0170 - Long -2.1910]

Nearest contour height 229m (Littledown)

Topography

Archaeology

Earliest Dating 1734 - & possibly > 1618

Records 1734 Deed

Documents

Map

Early maps Possibly on Aldwell's 1618 map

Ogilby 1675

Taylor 1765

Tithe Map (c1840) TO BE CHECKED = no sign of windmill plot

1st Edition OS map

Present OS map

Google Maps

The Windmill

The Millers

Present site condition

Notes and comments : Assignment of mortgage^[1] in 1734 on a piece of land called Windmill Close at Littledown involving Thos Needle of Shaftesbury, Joseph Gray of Longburton & Matthew Bowles of Donhead Sack(?) for the sum of £50.

..............All that one close of meadow pasture or Arable land called Windmill Close containing by estimation two acres & half situated and lying and being at Littledown within the tything of Motcombe within the manor of Gillingham

This windmill could well be the one on Aldwell's Cranborne Chase map of 1618 marked as being near the Gillingham forest ?

Littledown is just north of Shaftesbury itself - some way SE of Motcombe.

^[1] CRO Ref D.1/MX : 6 - Mill Index