Bintry Mill is set in a valley along with its farm at one end of the flood pain and stands in magnificent isolation a mile from the village of Bintree. The mill and house are adjoining and used to share the same roof line until an additional floor was added to the mill around the turn of the century. Both buildings are of red brick under a Norfolk pantiled roof. The mill may well stand on the site of an earlier mill dating back to 1454.

To be sold separately. Three dwelling houses and a windmill to each house, late of Ann Ramsadle of Ingworth, situated in several parishes of Horning, Happisburgh & East Ruston. For particulars enquire of Mr Thomas Cubitt of Horning, Mr John Gill of Bintree and Mr Kemp of Swafield.
Norwich Mercury - 17th February 1759

My great grandfather several times removed was John Gill who was employed as miller by, I think, the Hasting’s Astley Estate. He was either not much good at his job or had a lot of bad luck, because he was ‘bailed out’ in his father-in-law’s will:
...indebted unto me the sum of £270 and upwards for goods, corn and merchandise by me sold and delivered to him. And also monies by me at several times paid and advanced to diverse persons on his account. I hereby bequeath and relinquish to him, the said John Gill, his executors or administrators the sum of £200, part of the said debt” JOHN BROOKE OF WOOD NORTON, Gentleman 1767.
Peter Gill - 20th September 2004

John Gill's gravestone is set against the wall of Bintree Church. He died on 12th October 1772 at the age of 42 years.

Will of Thomas Eastoe of Honingham
Dated 2nd March 1788
Proved at Norwich 26th April 1803

Cornelius Spooner was working at the mill from c.1801-1803 before moving on to Twyford. He was married to Mary née Towell and their children were baptised at Bintree. John was baptised on 2nd April 1801 and Edmund on 1st January 1803. It is not known if Cornelius Spooner was the miller or an employee.

On 16th January 1862 at New Hartley Colliery, 9 miles north of Newcastle, miners became entombed when an engine beam broke, blocking the only working shaft, resulting in the loss of 204 lives.

In the census of 1851, William Dawson Seaman was living with William Burrell who was the then miller, presumably because William Seaman's parents, Thomas and Susan, were both dead and the majority of his 4 remaining brothers and sisters were in Gressenhall workhouse.

The Seaman family also took on North Elmham mill in 1904 but there was a family rift and Robert John Seaman moved away to take on the tenancy of Bintry mill, which at that time was part of the Hastings Estate.

Robert J. Seaman (sen) is seated on the left with his wife next to him. Their son Robert John Seaman is standing at the back with his sister May. George and his new wife are seated in the centre. William and Constance (from North Elmham mill) are seated on the right.

In March 1919 Albert Edward Delaval, Lord Hastings and Robert J. Seaman came to an agreement on the hire of Bintry Mill. 108 acres 3 rods 1 perch would be hired for an annual rent of £188 6s. A formal agreement followed on 7th January 1921. During the depression in 1933, the rent was decreased to £109 per annum.

Robert Seaman jnr was a fanatical gardener and would mobilise all the workers to protect his borders whenever cows were moved past the mill or gardens. He would also vent his wrath on any lorry driver who unwittingly put a wheel onto the verge.

The mill was enlarged in 1870 by a building firm from Hindolveston, when an additional floor was added.
The new roof was assembled on the ground before being taken apart and raised to its final position.

The waterwheel was removed in 1947 and the wheelhouse floor was concreted over. Motive power was moved from water straight to electricity, unusually, neither steam or diesel were used. The mill finally ceased operating in 1980, when it was rolling oats. In 2004 Paul Seaman was still liveing in the mill house, being the 4th generation of the Seaman family to live there.

In May and June it blossoms out in all the colours of the rainbow and I can never cease from drinking in its beauty. Not that it isn't beautiful at any time. I have seen it when the trees are bare, the river dark and menacing, when the birds have hushed their song and the sky is grey and lowering - and still I love it. I have seen it in the rain, or when a pale streak of sunlight has swept across the early crocuses; when rough winds have shaken the petals from the roses and torn leaves off the trees to sail upon the swiftly-flowing water, and still it fascinates me.

But to see it when the azaleas and the rhododendrons are in bloom, when the pansies are lifting their faces to the sun, when all the trees are in new leaf and the red may and the chestnut spikes stand in all their glory.…! To smell the honeysuckle twining the old bridge…. To watch a brood of ducklings paddling furiously against the current…. To listen to the music in the air around you and the distant call of the cuckoo…. To hear, above the gurgle of the water, the plop of a silvery fish and see the swallows skimming low under the bridge…. To catch a glimpse of the rare blue flash of a kingfisher.… This is an English heaven!

"Bintry madness" it may be. I prefer to think of it as an appreciation of a tiny part of what Shakespeare called "This other Eden; demi-paradise."
Joan Secker

In 1996 Bintry mill was used as the location for the film Mill on the Floss. Amongst other necessary cosmetic changes a plastic bridge was built against the back of the mill and the white walls of the mill and house were distressed by blackening them.

1767: John Gill

12th October 1772: John Gill died aged 42

1788: William Hook, miller

1797 Faden's map: Bintry Mill

1803: William Hook, miller

c.1801-1803: Cornelius Spooner, miller - possibly employee. Later moved to Twyford

21st June 1827: William Burrell, miller appointed as joint executor in the will of John Barber of Foulsham

White's 1836: William Burrell

Census 1851: William Dawson Seaman b. Bintree c.1829, miller living with William Burrell, owner

White's 1864: William Burrell

Kelly's 1883: Henry William Burrell

Kelly's 1896: Henry William Burrell

Kelly's 1900: Frederick Thomas Sharpin

Kelly's 1904: Frederick Thomas Sharpin

1904: Seaman family took over the mill

Kelly's 1908: Seaman & Son

Kelly's 1925: Seaman & Sons

Kelly's 1929: R.J. Seaman & Sons

Kelly's 1937: R.J. Seaman & Sons

1947: Wheel removed to provide additional space for electrcally powered machinery

1950s: R.J. Seaman & Sons. Samuel Bush, journeyman miller, grandson of Samuel Bush at Felthorpe mill and Glandford mill

Tel. directory 1970: Robert Seaman Ltd.

1980: Mill ceased production

1996: Mill used as location for film Mill on the Floss