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24th
April 1977
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Foulden Mill
River Wissey tributary |
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24th
April 1977
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Foulden water
mill is on a small tributary of the River Wissey and was part of the Foulden
Hall Estate. It was built of clay lump and brown weatherboarding with
a slate roof. The mill certainly ground corn in years gone by but during
its last working years it was used as a sawmill and for powering threshing
machines. The building appears to have been single storey although it
is not known if that was always the case. Unusually, it had an overshot
wheel, this type of wheel is comparitively rare in Norfolk due to the
mainly gentle terrain. The only other mills to use this system that I
have found so far were at Brandiston, Buxton (one of the
two wheels), Congham, Hingham, Mundesley,
Tharston and Weybourne. |
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June 1968
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The
wheelhouse and wheel in 1977 |
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In 1972 the
wheel and the majority of the machinery was intact although the wooden
wheel slats were in need of replacement. Two 3 foot diameter Derby peakstones
were still in their tun. A sawmill system had been set up and the pitwheel
had been converted to belt pulley. |
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The mill dam lake in June 1968
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June
1968 |
| On the opposite side of the road to the mill is a spring fed lake that covers several acres and is the water source for the mill, with the mill dam being fed via a culvert under the road. The whole of the surrounding area is drained via a network of ditches, one of which passes under the mill dam through a tunnel. |
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The collapsing roof November 1982
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The
wheelhouse November 1982 |
The mill was
eventually bought by Graham Martin who restored it back to full working
order by 1987. In 1989 he contemplated moving it to an alternative site, however this did not happen. For a short time the mill was open to the public as a working museum before being closed mainly due to the restraints of Health & Safety. In 2000 the property was sold once more and the new owners converted the centre barn section of the building into a residence. Although the machinery remained, the belt drive was then disconnected from its water power source. |
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Pump 14th September 1984
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Runner
stone 14th September 1984 |
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New walls 14th September 1984
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Wheel
and gear 14th September 1984
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Graham Martin amidst the ruins in 1983
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Mill
open 16th March 1987
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The mill did
not run with a conventional pit wheel but instead used a gear on the side
of the waterwheel to drive a horizontal shaft that ran through the wall
into the barn section where it drove a large belt pulley set in a pit. The
pit pulley in turn drove another long pulley shaft in the roof section,
one end of which went back through the gable wall where it was linked to
the milling machinery via a belt that ran through the wheelhouse roof. The
other end of the long pulley shaft ran almost the entire length of the barn
section where it was originally connected to ancilliary machinery. This
section has since been removed and is set in the garden in the form of a
sculpture. The outside drive pulley can be seen on each of the right hand photographs above and below. |
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Disconnected pulley shaft 6th March 2004
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Wheel
and milling house 6th March 2004
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Wheel leat 6th March 2004
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Wheelhouse
pulley beneath the roof hatch 6th March 2004
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| Water to the
overshot wheel was controlled via a sluice gate that allowed water to run
along a metal channel or leat before cascading onto the wheel. Spokes of
the red pit pulley can be seen through the window that appears top right
on the left hand photograph above. The drive to the milling machinery returned to the wheelhouse via a belt drive that came in through a hatch in the roof. |
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Milling machinery 6th March 2004
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Stone
tun 6th March 2004
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Straw
cutter 6th March 2004
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25th
January 2004
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6th
March 2004
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O.S. Map 2005 of original site Image reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey TL75469828 |
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O.S. Map 2005 Image reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey |
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Tithe Map 1838: |
Mill shown as a circular building on an older site at within Gudgeon Fen enclosure no. 298, 15.0.9 acres of pasture. Owner Henry Berney Caldwell Esq. Occupier Daniel Sewell. |
1983: Mill was sold along with the rest of the Foulden Estate 1983: Graham Martin bought the mill and set about restoring it 1987: Mill restored and working 2000: Mill sold and barn section converted to a private residence January 2004: Mill advertised for sale by Bidwells with a guide price of £595,000 2018: Simon McMahon |
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If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. By all means telephone 07836 675369 or
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| Nat Grid Ref TL76919853 | Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2004 |