The windmill built within St Benet's Abbey was a popular subject for the Norwich School artists, it was etched by John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) who also painted a watercolour of it much later in 1831 (Norwich Castle Museum). It provided artists with a unique combination of picturesque feature, being built within the ruined gate house of St Benet's Abbey near the banks of the river Bure in Norfolk.
Thirtle exhibited views of St Benet's Abbey at the Norwich Society of Artists in 1811 and 1828 and there are three other drawings dating from circa 1811 and a large watercolour, circa 1813-1816 of the subject, in the Norwich Castle Museum, all painted from differing view points to the present work (see M. Allthorpe-Guyton, John Thirtle-Drawings in Norwich Castle Museum, 1977, nos. 21, 22, 24, 25).