Poole - Hunger Hill

Present OS map : Below - Dorset Explorer Mapping System has burial ground but no mention of the early windmill.

The windmill Post mill - roundhouse etc has been excavated ????

The Millers

Present site condition

Notes and Comments

The earliest record is of a post mill being the subject of a grant on 6th May 1445^[1] :

1445 : It had obviously been built prior to 1445.

Grant of Land and windmill thereon at Hunger Hill to Stephen Houehyn

This gift or grant had been made by Agnes Lechys^[2] and Stephen (Hutchins) was required to pay an annual fee for the rent and services to the Lord of the Manor at Canford. The early town windmill was then situated on a piece of rising ground at Hunger Hill (roughly in the vicinity of the present day large roundabout on the old town side of Towngate Bridge).

GIFT OR GRANT OF LAND AND WINDMILL IN POOLE BY AGNES LECHYS TO STEPHEN HOUCHYNS

6 MAY 23 HENRY VI

Know (men) present and future that I Agnes Lechys of the town of Poole give, grant and by this my present charter confirm to Stephen Houchyns one piece of land with one windmill with their appurtenances adjacent within the liberty and bounds of Poole aforesaid late held by I Thomas Leeche and the said piece of land with the said windmill lies between John Play's land on the east and the King's road on the north, south and west parts. To have and to hold all the aforesaid piece of land with the aforesaid windmill with all their appurtenances to the aforementioned Stephen his heirs and assigns forever. Rendering therefore annually to the lord of that fee the rents and services accustomed. And verily I the aforesaid Agnes and my heirs will warrant acquit and defend forever all the aforesaid piece of land with the aforesaid windmill with all their appurtenances to the aforementioned Stephen his heirs and assigns against all people by these present (letters). In witness of which thing I would affix my seal to this present (charter). And because my seal is not available therefore I have obtained and affixed the seal of the mayoralty of the town of Poole to this my present charter. These being witness Stephen Houchyns now mayor of the town of Poole, John Thomas, John Spadard, John Hurdre, John Mowers, William Raymonde, Robert Lambert, Hugh Stocker and Robert Houchyns now bailiff and many others. Given at Poole the aforesaid sixth day of the month of May in the twenty-third year of the reign of King Henry sixth after the Conquest.

A small hand drawn map in Poole library (see above) entitled Mediaeval Poole in the 15th century has a note on its rear side "This is a reduced copy of an original map held at the Guildhall Museum Poole" . It shows a windmill in the land between the two main streets running south from the Town Gate.

1461 : In 1461, there was a conveyance^[3] of land from William Stolbe and Henry Besom of the Town of Poole Governors of the Fraternity of St George^[4] in the church of the said Town - one piece of land situated in sd town called Hungerhill... granted for the term of his life to Stephen Hutchins alias Warner.

1543 : In the 1543 Act to build the new windmill at Baiter, it is noted that the people of Poole have to travel 4 miles to the nearest mill indicating that the mill was not operational.

1548 : [13] Stephen Howehyns, alias Warner, a burgess of the town of Poole, grants his close called Windmill Hill to William Stowey & John Flexmore, seneschels etc (s.d.) CHECK THIS - dates are wrong unless it is his son ? (Source : 1548-58 in Poole Archives :^[6])

1549 : Henry VIII dissolved the Monastries in 1544 and the fraternities such as St George were not exempt. The possessions of the fraternity passed to the Crown in 1547 and it was decided slightly later that they should be purchased on behalf of the Poole Corporation. A valuation was drawn up dated 1st February 1549^[5] which listed amongst other tenements .....A garden called the "Mylles Post" - value 2s 0d

1553 : Being described as the Mill Post above almost certainly indicates that the windmill was a ruin and had perhaps been out of service when the new one at Baiter was built in 1543. A reference in 1553 in connection with the Baiter windmill to a man being paid for bringing and mending two sails from the old windmill seems to support this.

1777 : On 3rd December 1777, Peter Jolliff (the younger) was counterpart in a lease^[7] of Mill Close at Hungerhill for 7 years from Poole Corporation. This would seem to to be period immediately before the area became a burial ground. A map of Poole dated 1760 shows several suitable areas but the exact location is not clear.

1783 : The History of the town of Poole^[8] notes that before it was consecrated in 1783, an old burial ground at Hunger Hill owned by the Fraternity of St George^[9] was known as Mill Post due to the fact that a post windmill had been erected there. This was in Towngate Street and a circular slab of stone foundation of a post mill with round house has been found in past excavations.^[10]

Note : NB Dec 97 = archaeology unit of Poole Museum have no record of this. (RC Letter 4/12/97)

On an earlier map drawn up for Sir Peter Thompson in 1751 (see Baiter), Hunger Hill is shown more to the west. The 1901 OS map shows the Burial Ground between Hunger Hill and Towngate.

The burial ground is shown as "New Burying Ground on a map dated 1841 and again on the 1901 OS map. In 1959 M. J Way (DCM - see footnotes) records that there was a notice on the site noting the old windmill : (is this still there ?)

"In Mediaeval Days a windmill stood here hence the name Millpost given to the site which in pre-reformation days was a garden belonging to the guild of St George.

The windmill site is now under the new roundabout on old town side of Towngate Bridge. The Stage III of the redevelopment which included the roundabout was finished in 1972 (see map above). Did the works uncover the base of the windmill ??? - if so where are the archaeological records ?

Footnotes :

^[1] Poole Borough Records Vol 1 p2 (6) - extract at CRO - this notes that the grant refers to an "ancient"

windmill (it may have been new in 1445 !). Stephen Houehyn is also noted as perhaps being the Mayor

in the same year.

^[2] The information in this paragraph comes from Medieval Poole - the documentary evidence (author/date

unknown - held in Poole Museum)

^[3] Poole Borough Records extract at CRO Vol 4 item s1210.

^[4] For information on the Fraternity of St George in Poole (also in Weymouth) see DNH&AS, Vol 29 (1908) p78.

The mill post appears here : Redd unius gardini voc The Myll post p ann 2s 0d. (Fraternity also appears Vol XLVII (1926)

^[5] Sydenham, John. History of Poole 1839 p334.

^[6] Ibid, History of Town of Poole

^[7] Poole Borough Records extract CRO Vol 4 ref s1228 ......close or plott of ground containing by

estimation half an acre commonly known by the name Mill Close near a place then called Hunger Hill.

Rent £2 2s per annum.

^[8] Smith HP, The History of the .....Town of Poole, 2 vol, 1948, 1951, I, p198.

^[9] Sydenham John, History of the town & county of Poole, 1839 (reprinted 1986 Poole Hist Trust) p331

Religious foundation founded in late C14th. One of four altars 1 = St George.

^[10] DCRO From Mill Index = MJ Way Transcript. Unfortunately not found anywhere else ! Poole Museum know nothing about it and it does not appear in the list of Dorset excavations (DCM Vol 1 & II) or DNHAS Monograph 10 Poole Excavations 1973-1983

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