After months spent sifting through the weather-worn timbers of Horsey mill's cap, those that can be saved have been transported to a Suffolk workshop.

Eastern Daily Press: Horsey Windpump cap transportation. Picture: National TrustHorsey Windpump cap transportation. Picture: National Trust (Image: National Trust)

The delicate and precarious operation to remove the topper was carried out in March as part of an ambitious restoration project.

Since its removal, National Trust millwright Tim Whiting has been taking the wooden cap structure apart piece by piece, salvaging bits that can be used in the restoration and making careful notes of the pieces that were beyond saving.

He said: 'It's been a long process and it's only during this period that we have been able to see the full extent of the rot and the work required to restore the cap.

'In some places the rot has been found to be worse than we initially thought, but the supporting frame is largely intact with many original wooden pieces still in excellent condition.'

Eastern Daily Press: Horsey Windpump cap transportation. Picture: National TrustHorsey Windpump cap transportation. Picture: National Trust (Image: National Trust)

All that remains of the cap is the large wooden frame structure, which is unrecognisable from what was once atop the windpump.

It was lifted by crane on to the back of a flatbed lorry and carefully driven along the twisty Broadland roads on a 50-mile journey to its temporary home at the workshop in Saxmundham, Suffolk.

Using traditional skills and techniques, the cap will be fully restored using as many of the original salvageable pieces as possible with a roof that will resemble an upside down clinker boat hull – a traditional style for Norfolk.

It will return to Horsey windpump around the end of this year ready for reinstatement – complete with new sails – in early 2017.

Eastern Daily Press: The delicate operation of removing the white cap off Horsey Windpump gets underway as part of the National Trust's renovation project to restore the Norfolk landmark to its former glory. Picture: MARK BULLIMOREThe delicate operation of removing the white cap off Horsey Windpump gets underway as part of the National Trust's renovation project to restore the Norfolk landmark to its former glory. Picture: MARK BULLIMORE (Image: Archant Norfolk 2016)

The National Trust is spending £244,000 to complete phase one which will see the cap and sails reinstated.

The new cap will rotate to face the sails into the wind giving a different view of Horsey windpump every day.

It is part of a larger three-phase project that will see the landmark fully operational and able to pump water for demonstrative purposes.

Horsey Mill dates from 1912 and is one of the few people can visit.