Besthorpe is a village and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the Newark and Sherwood

Newark and Sherwood

Newark and Sherwood is a local government district of eastern Nottinghamshire, England. The district is predominantly rural, with some large forestry plantations, and the towns of Newark-on-Trent, Southwell and Ollerton....

 district of Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 190. The village is between Collingham

Collingham, Nottinghamshire

Collingham is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England.Collingham is located on the banks of the River Trent on the A1133 main road, just off the A46...

 and Girton

Girton, Nottinghamshire

Girton is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 143. It is located 17 miles west of Lincoln.The parish church of St Cecilia is a small aisleless church almost totally rebuilt in 1879...

 on the A1133 road, and is near the River Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

, north of Newark-on-Trent

Newark-on-Trent

Newark-on-Trent is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. It stands on the River Trent, the A1 , and the East Coast Main Line railway. The origins of the town are possibly Roman as it lies on an important Roman road, the Fosse Way...

.

At Mill Farm are the remains of a windmill

Windmill

A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

, consisting of the oak post, quarter bars and cross trees of a post mill

Post mill

The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. The defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. The earliest post mills in England are thought to have...

inside a brick roundhouse, now used as a store Besthorpe Mill was built c. 1832, and ceased working by 1909 although the sails and machinery remained intact until at least the 1930s. In 1899 the miller Charles Merriman committed suicide inside the mill by cutting his throat. According to a tenant, Ron Wilkinson, who moved into the mill house in the 1930s the roundhouse floorboards were bloodstained. They were later concreted over.