River Wensum - Watermills

Watermills

There were a succession of water mills on the Wensum, some of which are still standing and working. From the source these are

• Sculthorpe Mill. The 18th century water mill which bridges the river was converted into a hotel and restaurant in 2003.
• Hempton Mill. The mill became derelict and was demolished in 1954 by the Drainage Board in order to improve control of the river levels.
• Fakenham Mill. The 18th Century water mill bridging the river was in use until 1979. It was converted into homes in 1982.
• Great Ryburgh Mill
• Guist Mill
• Bintry Mill ceased operation in 1980, but the building is still extant. It was used as the location for a film of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss in 1996.
• North Elmham Mill, known locally as Grint Mill, had two breastshot waterwheels until the early twentieth century when they were replaced by two turbines. By the 1970s the milling machinery was driven by mains electricity while the turbines were used to drive a sack hoist and two mixing machines. The mill continued to produce animal feed into the late twentieth century
• Swanton Morley Mill was demolished in the 1840s.
• Elsing Mill ceased operation in 1970. The building is still extant.
• Lyng Mill was demolished in 1868.
• Lenwade Mill. The Grade II listed building was at risk in the 1990s, but was sympathetically converted into apartments in 2000.
• Taverham Mill. In the 19th century Taverham was a major producer of paper. Some of the paper which was produced at Taverham Mill was used in producing The Times and the Oxford English Dictionary. It also served the University Press at Cambridge. The paper mill closed in 1899.
• Costessey Mill was destroyed by a fire in 1924.
• Hellesdon Mill was demolished for building materials in 1920.
• Norwich New Mills. A corn mill was built in 1430 by public subscription. In 1710, it was rebuilt to grind corn and supply water to the city. In 1897, it became an air compressor station, with three electric and two water powered compressors. The compressed air was used to pump sewage out of the city. Operation ceased in 1972, when the only other Schone Ejector pumps in the country were those under the houses of parliament. Plans for it to become a working museum failed, but all the machinery is still intact. The sluice is now computer operated to control water levels.

Other mills close on tributaries are

• Great Witchingham Mill
• Gressenhall Mill
• Worthing Mill
• Felthorpe Mill