Buxton watermilll was recorded in Domesday in 1085. It was last rebuilt as a mill in 1754 by William Pepper, a merchant living in Buxton. The building was constructed of white painted brick and weatherboard with a pantile roof and has been a prominent landmark in the village for many years.

It finally ceased as a working mill one sad Saturday in August 1970 when Duffields finally closed the complex in order to concentrate their business at the larger site at Saxlingham Thorpe.

William Pepper's mill was a clever design, using two wheels, the larger being breastshot. The smaller wheel was overshot using water that formed part of the Aylsham Navigation and gained its head by the lock system at Buxton. The only other mills to use overshot wheels in Norfolk that I have found so far were at Brandiston, Congham, Foulden, Hingham, Mundesley, Tharston and Weybourne. The building was constructed of white painted brick and weatherboard with a pantile roof.

The Bure has become quite large and powerful by the time it reaches Buxton and with a fall of 6 to 7 feet thanks to the river being diverted, a considerable amount of power is available. The conventional breastshot waterwheel was changed to a Victor turbine in the 1902 in order to improve efficiency. The turbine, being quite small, revolved at a much faster pace. This avoided the need to introduce several gear wheels, which on larger, slow moving wheels waste considerable power in overcoming friction. In 1965 this turbine was still producing 25% of the mill's power requirements. It had undergone a minor overhaul in 1930 and a major overhaul in the 1960s that would have left it capable of running for the next 40 years.

Water power was used to drive two and sometimes three pairs of millstones, which were in regular use for grinding animal food stuffs. Flour for household use was also produced and biscuit flour was milled using electrically powered roller milling machines.

Assignment from Sir Thomas Frankland knight to Stephen Ashby (Thomas, Lord Londonderry also a party) of mortgage originally raised in 1698 by William, Earl of Yarmouth, and Charles, Lord Paston, by Common Recovery, on the manors of Sparham, Buxton and Skeyton, Buxton Park, watermills in Buxton and Lammas called Buxton Mills, and lands etc. in Buxton, Hevingham, Lammas, Stratton Strawless, Brampton, Sparham, Bawdeswell and Great_Witchingham.
1722

November 4th

Water Mills.
To be Sold by Private Contract,
and entered upon immediately.

The Remainder of the Lease of Buxton Water-Mills, in the  County of Norfolk, in the Centre of a fine and plentiful Corn Country, within eight Miles of the City of Norwich, situated upon the River Bure, navigable from Aylsham (by the said Mills) to Coltishall and Yarmouth.
These very extensive and valuable Premisses are chiefly Brick and Tile, and consist of a good Dwelling-house, Water Corn Mills, Kiln for drying of Wheat, large Granaries, Stable, and other Appurtenances adapted to and compleating the Conveniency of the said Premisses.
The said Mills are capable of performing more Work than any in this Part of the Kingdom, and are excellently well situated for a Foreign Trade from their Communication by Water with the Port of Great Yarmouth.
There is also a pleasant Garden, Meadow Land, etc consisting in the whole of about 10 Acres.
For further Particulars enquire of Mr George Watson, the Proprietor, on the said Premisses, of Mr John Barnard, Merchant, at Norwich, or of Mr William Durrant, at Saxlingham Mills.
Norfolk Chronicle - 21st September 1782

BUXTON MILLS.
TO BE LET,

The Frankling and Pratt families were related by marriage and both were connected with the milling trade.

John Pratt and his brother James were both millers and were possibly working at Buxton. John Pratt married Maria Thaxter in November 1812.

Charles Frankling married Ann Pratt in 1854, who was probably the daughter of James Pratt but Charles died in 1860 at the age of 26. In 1871, their son, Charles Frankling jnr was recorded as working at Buxton mill and living with his grandmother, Ann Pratt in Buxton. However, by 1881 he had moved to work at Costessey_mill and was lodging with William Futter and his family

Thomas Shreeve (1833 -1909) came from Bolwick_watermill and Marsham_postmill and had moved to Buxton. by 1890. Thomas' nephew Charles Robert Shreeve (1854-1932) took over at Bolwick_mill and Marsham_postmill and was possibly still there when his farming business became insolvent in 1897. Thomas' nephew George Holland Shreeve moved from Dilham Mill to join Thomas at Buxton by 1891.

Many extensions were made to the mill and its outbuildings were often added to when extensive silos and storage facilities were added to help cope with the higher throughput of the modern mill. The first of these was a 125 ton silo that was added in 1930, followed by a dryer in 1947.

The mill at this time was milling both flour and animal feeds. Later this policy was changed and Buxton was used only for flour milling. The use of lorries to bring in grain by bulk (as opposed to sacks) was significant advance in efficiency and allowed the mill to effectively double its output. In its final years Buxton Mill was producing flour at the rate of 1 ton per hour.

98% of wheat milled was locally grown and Duffields were handling 500 tons of local grain (wheat, barley and oats) between their 3 mills - Buxton, Tharston and Saxlingham Thorpe.

The great floods of 1912 wreaked havoc in Buxton and the surrounding countryside. The flood came at the end of a dismal August. The rain began at 3.00am on Monday 26th August and continued until mid morning on 27th. Brundall recorded the highest total of 8.06" but 7" appears to have fallen in the Buxton area. The Bure overflowed its banks and people had to be rescued from upstairs windows by boat. Animals were drowned, the road to Lammas became a roaring flood and the meadows were one big lake.

Many hay cocks were swept down from the Lammas & Hautbois meadows causing a damming of the river by the narrow Coltishall Bridge. When this gave way the water levels dropped in Buxton.

The wherry Zulu, was trapped in the river Bure while unloading cargo at Aylsham and as the locks were destroyed it was unable to get back down the river and it had to be manhandled across the road near Buxton Mill.

RP - Was 'Zulu' the one that was trapped when the floods came?
CS -"No"
RP - Which one was that? It got caught between here and Buxton, didn't it?
CS - "Yes, - that's right, and I went as a boy, and greased the slides what that keel was on - we took her out of one river, crossed the road into another river, and I was the boy, I had to grease these slides where that keel slide in, you see - she was crossed up, you know, kept upright, and put her out of one river into another 'cause the lock was washed away. And I went there as a boy, and that's the hardest day's work I ever done in my life - carrying them great long pieces of wood, you know,"
CYRIL ("SAM") SPINKS - Aylsham Mill worker for 55 years interviewed by Lynette Rust and
Ron Peabody. Date unknown

In June 1933 the old lock from the Aylsham Navigation, which had been disused since the 1912 flood was filled up and a good road finally opened from Buxton to Lammas.

In the possession of Mr. William Duffield.
Mill described in Conventio Number of 'Milling' for 1931.
Has a capacity of 2 sacks per hour with an extensive grist and provender trade. Wholly water powered.
Duffield took over mill in 1924 - almost derelict, had to fit it, start it up and make his own good-will. In 1926 was running full time with grist and flour. Mill dates back to 1754. It was purely a stone mill. Converted to roller system in the 1890s - original plans bearing the date 14th May 1890. Not known when it stopped working until Mr. Duffield took it.
At 1931 visit, Mr. Duffield had re-flowed the mill and re-designed the power distribution. He then tackled the dressing and scalping, having a Turner sextuple plansifter installed. Shortly after this the Wheat Act was passed, which gave an impulse to home agriculture.
Mr. Duffield prepared for increase in trade by increasing bin space - which was very short. In August 1933 he decided to build a new silo. He found a second hand 10 - bin silo in the North, had it dismantled and brought to Buxton where it arrived in November. The bins are 5ft. square and 22ft high. Local builder employed to erect it on site next to the mill near the bend in the road on a reinforced concrete foundation. Chestnut and spruce trees were felled and trimmed into piles 22ft. long and 11ins. Square. Eleven driven and on them the basement was built beside an unloading platform with a concrete hopper. The bin hoppers were put into position on new steel stanchions and the laminated wood sides erected upon them. The whole was capped with a roof, the sides were covered with Robinson's patent corrugated sheeting, heat-proof and damp-proof, so was the roof; then the interior was equipped with hollow spiral worm conveyors, five double feeders and spouting. Also new Lawrence Scott motors were installed, giving an intake capacity of 60 qtrs. per hour.
The elevator was a problem because of the disparity between the elasticity of it and the silo. This was solved by the use of a flexible coupling. The silo was commissioned in March 1934. It took 5 months to erect a silo capable of holding 4,500 bushels of wheat.
Last year's drought caused problems with the water supply for the mill. Accordingly, in August 1934 a 25h.p. Crossley oil engine was purchased and installed in a separate building alongside the waterway; and here a provender plant was erected. This is now used whenever the water power has to be conserved for the flour mill and for certain other products which necessitate high speeds being used for reduction.
At the 1931 visit transport for short journeys, was by means of horse drawn vehicles, but they have been replaced by another lorry. The stables have been converted to the auxiliary provender mill plant.
Milling magazine - 15th June 1935

Turbine Repaired

The 60-year old American water turbine that operates the mill at Buxton has just been given a new lease of life by an unusual welding repair.
"Siftips," the organ of the Suffolk Iron Foundry, Stowmarket, tells the story.
The Victor turbine cylinder gate was installed in 1902 in W.C. Duffield's flour mill at Buxton - a familiar landmark on the Bure - and had worked continuously apart from a minor overhaul I the 1930s, until it seized up recently. This was thought to be due to corrosion, the turbine being mounted under water.
Closer inspection at the Norwich works of Panks (Castle Hill) Ltd. showed that this was not so but parts of the turbine had suffered excessive and abnormal wear.
The metal was in reasonable condition but had to be built up where the damage had been done to the pedestal mounting plate. After welding repairs the parts had to be machined for retapping and drilling.
The result is that the turbine's life is reckoned to have been extended by 40 years.
Eastern Daily Press - 1960s

On 22nd May 1970, due to expansion at Saxlingham, Duffields announced closure of Buxton and Tharston mills As a result Buxton and Tharston Mills were both closed in 1970 enabling production to be undertaken by 9 staff rather than 18. 10 staff at Buxton and 1 at Tharston to be made redundant.

On 3rd July 1970, the Mill, along with the Mill House, an adjoining cottage, modernised house and six acres of pasture beside the Tas were sold at auction in Norwich for £14,000 on the instructions of Duffields. It was bought by David and Joan Langridge of Coltishall who used builder J.N. Howard of Sprowston to convert the mill into a five bedroom house and the adjoining granary into a three bedroom house.

Some years later the modernised mill was advertised by Alan Ebbage & Partners for sale with offers expected to be in excess of £30,000. It came with 4 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, full central heating, double garage and car ports along with 4 acres of land and a long river frontage.

The granary was sold at the Central Hall, Wymondham by auctioneers Alan Ebbage & Partners in May 1976 to a Mr. Brock for £13,800.

1891-1892: W.I. Duffield started milling at the Black Tower Mill, Mattishall, making stone ground flour. The mill developed up to 20h.p.

1896: Tasburgh Mill was hired - Duffields' first steam-driven roller flour mill, producing two sacks per hour

1910: Saxlingham Mill was acquired

1919: Tharston Mill was acquired; Tasburgh and Saxlingham Mills were relinquished, but not for long

1924: William C. Duffield took over the mill at Buxton, remodelling it into a 2½ sacks per hour roller mill

1928: Saxlingham Mill was reacquired

1936: W.L. Duffield & Sons Ltd. was formed

1940: Animal feedstuff compound was first produced at Saxlingham

1950: Duffields acquired the tenancy of Hautbois Hall Farms (176 acres)

1951: Buxton flour mill was remodelled and capacity doubled

1952: Tharston flour mill was remodelled and capacity doubled

1953: Lamas Rectory and and 46 acres of glebeland adjacent to the farm were purchased

1960: The warehouse at Buxton was built

1962: The Duffield Group was formed with Duffield Mills Ltd. as the holding company

1963: A further 123 acres of land adjacent to the farm were purchased

1964: Buxton flour mill capacity was again doubled to ten sacks per hour

1965: The feed capacity at Saxlingham was doubled

1970: Modernisation at Saxlingham, doubling capacity for flour production despite the closure of Tharston and Buxton Mills. The group today employs a staff of 109.

Eastern Daily Press 19th September, 1970

Dreaming of unique arts centre for old mill

A YEAR AGO last summer Buxton Mill, standing massively over the River Bure at Buxton Lammas, was still producing flour, as it had been doing for two centuries past.
But by this time next year, if the dream of the new owners materialises, the mill could be established as a unique arts centre in Norfolk.
The transformation is already well in hand. Last August, 12 months after the mill wheels finally ground to a halt, a restaurant and an area containing craftware, books and a few pictures were opened on the ground floor.
Converted
The first floor has now been converted into a large art gallery - the inaugural exhibition was unveiled earlier this month - and by next April a rural industries centre is due to be running on the second floor.
As these 3 enterprises develop so Buxton Mill Galleries (Norfolk), the company which has been formed to run the project as a whole, would like to see other activities flourishing at the mill.
The company consists of Roger Ferris and his wife, Anne, who bought the building 14 months ago, and Tony Duffield, son of the previous owner, and his wife Julia.
Mr. Ferris, who retired from the R.A.F. as a squadron leader only in September, said "My wife and I have always collected pictures, wherever we have been. We knew we wanted to go into picture dealing, but when it came to buying the mill the concept of an arts centre was really imposed on us by the size of the building rather than the4 other way round."
Now, however, they are excited by the possibilities which the magnificently preserved mill, built in 1754 offers . . . Concerts in the main gallery, beneath the great pine rafters; perhaps the creation of an arts association of some kind which could organise lectures, poetry readings and similar activities; the presentation of top-class art exhibitions which are normally only seen in London but which Mr. Ferris - who maintains contact with the London scene during his countrywide travels dealing with pictures - feels could be brought to Norfolk.
But the immediate task is to complete phase three of the conversion, the creation of the rural crafts section above the main gallery. Mr. Ferris envisages the public being able to watch individuals such as potter and a weaver at work here and is keen to contact local craftsmen.
Art remains his great interest, despite an extraordinarily varied career to date, which has included spells as a soldier and teacher before his 16 years in the R.A.F., part of it served as a physical fitness officer and part of it served at Coltishall.
He would love to see a revival of a contemporary Norfolk school of painting - "This building is such a superb one and so large that I would love top see a revival centred around this place.
We have enough room here to show pictures of the great majority of artists working in Norfolk at any one time, and I'd like to see us carrying one or two examples of the work of each of them."
The present exhibition is a mixed one, with works from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as more contemporary items and with local as well as outside artists represented Three drawings by Augustus John are included in the show.
An unusual feature of the exhibition is the careful choice of frames. Mr. Ferris has made a particular point of having authentic period ones to match the pictures concerned, employing a frame maker who formerly worked for the National Gallery to achieve the right results.
It is by paying attention to this sort of detail, and by mixing idealism with hard headed business practices (the company's first avowed priority is to make the whole venture commercially viable) that the new owners' dreams are likely to be given much more substance than such ventures usually achieve.
Mr. Ferris has also given notice of his own determination to make the project succeed by doing most of the conversion of the mill by himself, assisted by his father-in-law and three other helpers.
Eastern Daily Press - Wednesday, 29th December 1971

The first part of the Craft Centre opened in December 1971 and the second floor opened in April 1972.
The above photographs show (bottom left in clockwise order) Picture Framing, The Picture Gallery, The Craft Centre and the Restaurant.

'This is a new 1750s' mill . . .'

Businessman John McDonnell woke up to a nightmare one winter's morning last year.
North Walsham police telephoned Mr. McDonnell at his Oxfordshire home at 7.00 am on January 10 to tell him that his 250-year-old mill in Norfolk - a striking landmark on the River Bure - was ablaze.
"It was a terrible moment," said Mr McDonnell, who bought Buxton Mill in 1986. "I dropped everything and drove straight to Norfolk. The mill was completely burnt out - two storeys had disappeared and the rest was a brick shell."
Now, 15 months - and almost £1 million - later Buxton Mill is fully restored and ready to open for business again on Friday.
Paying tribute to main contractor T Gill and Son (Norwich) and architects Purcell, Miller, Tritton and Partners, a delighted Mr McDonnell said: "What we have is a brand new 1750s' mill.
"Some of the techniques in use here have not been seen in the lifetime of the builders, and will probably not be used again," said Mr McDonnell, a management consultant.
"Bringing back these wonderful old skills has been the highspot of some of these craftsmen's working lives. And the co-operation of everyone involved has been marvellous.
"They don't make buildings like this any more - today, it's all steel frames, which are much quicker and cheaper."
The restoration is also believed to be the biggest timber-frame building project undertaken in |Britain this century.
But, like any large undertaking, it has not all been plain sailing, as architect Keith Wreay explained . . .
"Crucial to the whole job were the massive pitch pine beams which run across the mill. The old ones were too badly burnt to salvage, so we had to get some more.
"One day, I went over to North Wales to look at the beams which the timber supplier had bought for us - only to find half of them had been sold to someone else, and it's not easy to find one-ton beams.
"We finally ended up in Nottinghamshire where we found what we wanted, except for two more which came from an old distillery in Glasgow."
On another occasion, scaffolders were about to set to work on the north side of the mill when a Norfolk County Council works team arrived to dig up the road.
"It was a delay in an extremely tight schedule, but we managed to negotiate with the county to reduce the time lost," said Mr Wreay, who made 130 works drawings during the Buxton Mill project.
Time was not only in short supply for the builders, however.
When Buxton Mill went up in smoke last year, the hopes and finances of half a dozen small local businessmen seemed to have gone the same way. The tenants of Buxton Mill watched their investments burn and wondered if they would ever be able to regain their livelihoods.
On Friday, all will be back in business at the mill in a variety of trades, including pine and antique furniture, furnishings and a bar and restaurant. Only one unit, on the prestige top floor, is vacant.
Eastern Daily Press - Wednesday 8th April 1992

A 14-month rebuilding programme followed the fire of 1991, using 19th century North American pitched pine salvaged from across Britain. The largest beams, often more than a metric tonne each, came from as far afield as Scotland and Wales.
It was the largest timber-framed reconstruction ever to take place in the UK and enabled architect Keith Reay the opportunity to restore it to its traditional 18th century glory leaving out some of the more recent alterations.

Mill back in business after blaze

Gleaming white, and once more a proud village landmark - Buxton Mill has risen from the ashes of a disastrous fire just 15 months ago.
The 250 year old mill near Norwich was virtually destroyed in the blaze in January 1991 but has been carefully restored to its former glory and will reopen on April 10.
Materials salvaged from mills demolished around Britain have been used wherever possible said architect Keith Reay, of Purcill, Miller, Tritton and Partners, Norwich.
"I think the builders have done a fantastic job and the village has got a landmark back that it reallty could not have done without," he said.
Owner John McDonnell, of Oxford, is said to be delighted.
Eastern Daily Press - Friday 27th March 1992

Millstones set to grind flour again

Restauranteur Bob Branford plans to bring back the ancient art of milling to Buxton Mill.
A mill at Buxton is first recorded in the Domesday Book, although the present structure, dominating the attractive village split by the River Bure, dates from 1754.
At that time it was a fully operational watermill, driven by a giant waterwheel which ground the wheat to flour. The mill was extended upwards and outwards in the 19th century.
Despite considerable alterations since the first world war, the building was still producing flour up to 1970 when the milling family Duffield moved premises to Saxlingham, south of Norwich.
But Mr. Branford plans to revive the milling art for the benefit of visitors to the mill now restored after a devastating fire last year.
A feature of the restoration has been the faithful attempts to copy the original - in this case down to hiring one of Britain's few remaining millwrights to get the old water turbine back in action.
The addition of a small pair of millstones will provide the finishing touch to tenant Mr. Branford's bid for home-baked bread.
Mill owner John McDonnell said: "If I know Bob, he'll soon be baking up some delicious rolls for the restaurant."
Eastern Daily Press - Wednesday 8th April 1992

The above dream project never materialised, possibly due to the inordinate expense involved.

Hotel Scheme Gives Historic Mill New Role

Royal date for revamped mill

Buxton Memories

The Tharston_mill was run by Harry (HTS) Duffield and was a little gem, 4 sacks/hour beautifully maintained and run by a water turbine and 40 HP Ruston oil engine. These days it would have been kept as a working museum, it was sold for very little money about £7000 comes to mind and Buxton didn't make much. Some of the Tharston machinery went to the Strangers Museum in Norwich. I still have the large wooden pulley wheel from the Buxton turbine shaft,mounted on its side with a glass top makes an excellent coffee table,and an old wooden sack trolley.
Simon Cauthery, Australia - 29th September 2011

White's 1890: Thomas Shreeve, corn miller & merchant; and Aylsham

1891: George Holland Shreeve moved from Dilham Mill to work with uncle Thomas Shreeve

Kelly's 1892: Thomas Shreeve, miller (water & roller), also coal & general merchant and at Aylsham

Kelly's 1896: Thomas Shreeve, miller (water & roller), also coal & general merchant and at Aylsham

Kelly's 1900: Ling & Co (Benjamin)

1902: 30 h.p. Victor turbine installed to generate electricity

Kelly's 1904: Ling & Co - Buxton Roller Mills, also corn, coal, cake, seed & salt merchants and at Horstead

Kelly's 1912: Ling & Co

August 1912: Lock along with the Aylsham Navigation destroyed by the flood

Kelly's 1916: J. Parker & Son (Joseph)

Kelly's 1922: J. Parker & Son (Joseph)

1924: William Charles Duffield took over the mill, which had been derelict for 2 years

1930: 125 ton silo erected

1933: Old lock beside the mill filled in

Kelly's 1937: Duffield's. Tel. Buxton 8

1947: Drier unit installed

1953: Water milling ceased

1957: Grain silos erected on opposite side of the river from the road

May 1964: Mill production moved exclusively to flour

1965: Mill producing 1 ton of flour per hour

1965: 63 year old 30 h.p. Victor turbine producing 25% of mill's electricity

22nd May 1970: Due to expansion at Saxlingham, Duffields announced closure of Buxton and Tharston mills

On a Saturday in August 1970: Production ceased and the mill was sold soon after

August 1971: Roger Ferris opened first tea rooms

December 1971: First floor art gallery and craft centre opened

April 1972: Second floor gallery opened

1988: Mill converted into a restaurant called Boleyns

1992: John McDonnell, owner; Bob Branford, tenant and hoping to restore milling function on the premises

Friday 10th April 1992: Grand reopening of mill - Mill Tavern restaurant and Dovetail Home Furnishings

May 1994: Robert Dawson Smith opens Boleyn's Restaurant at the mill

1998: Further £350,000 spent in converting the mill into a hotel

February 2005: Bidwells offering 9 apartments for sale with prices starting from £155,000

September 2008: Ground floor 2 bed flat advertised for sale by Sowerbys for £248,950

September 2022: Ground floor 1 bed flat advertised for sale by Stobart & Hurrell for c.£200,000