Hilborough watermill originally belonged to the Hilborough Estate. It was quite a long building constructed of yellow brick with a slate roof. The mill house was under the same roofline but was only interconnected to the mill by a door at roof level. The undershot wheel was 13' in diameter and 5' 3" wide and ran three sets of stones. There is one lucum on the front of the mill and another on the gable end.

The mill was reconstructed in 1819, a date that is recorded on a stone tablet along with the initials R.C.

Jacob Mason Bird was running the mill in the 1840s and in 1848 he had a son, Frederick Augustus Bird, who went on to found Bird's_mill at Downham Market. Jacob Mason Bird's father was also called Jacob Bird and he was the miller at Fincham_postmill for at least 20 years.

The mill had ceased working by the 1960s. When I went there in the 1960s and 1970s it seemed to be a magical place with a strong atmosphere. Everything appeared to be just as it was on the day the last worker left years before, even an old brown coat was hanging on its hook by one of the grain chutes. All the machinery lay ghostly and still. The only alteration was that the water authority had removed the wheel paddles in order to allow the river to flow freely.

The mill was surveyed by NIAS in November 1977. Most of the machinery was intact and included all the wheel gearing, 3 sets of stones, flour screens, a chaffcutter, bucket conveyors, sack hoists, chutes and bins.

In 1977 the hydraulic ram made by John Blake Ltd of Accrington, situated in a shed to the front of the mill was still in use pumping water to Hilborough Hall.

The building was grade 2 listed on 5th September 1991. By this time the complex was owned by Bowes of Watton. Bowes wished to make the necessary building repairs themselves and were in dispute with the Department of the Environment who wished to carry out a compulsory purchase.

The mill was on the market again in the 1990s.

My name is Peter Bird and I am the son of the late Algy Bird who was the last of the Birds to mill flour in Norfolk. I have been endebted to your website for some early history of my forbears and where they lived, and I would like to express my gratitude for the efforts you have made.
My father's father was Frederick Augustus Bird (the F.A. Bird of the Downham_Mill) and he was born in 1848 in the Hilborough Mill which was run by his father, Jacob Mason Bird.
Jacob Mason's father was another Jacob and he ran the Fincham_Post_Mill. I had no idea of this until I looked at your website. This Jacob was born in 1789 and I have not managed to go any further back.
What I do not know, at time of writing, is whether Jacob Bird senior had any more sons that Jacob Mason, and if so, were they flour millers too?
Peter Bird, Cambridge - 16th May 2007

Faden's map 1797: Mill

1819: Mill and house rebuilt

White's 1836: Edward Scott

Tithe map 1845: Enclosure No. 112, house mill & premises. Pasture 1.0.19 acres. Owner Henry Berney Caldwell; occupier Jacob Mason Bird

White's 1845: Jacob M. Bird, corn miller

1848: Jacob Mason Bird, miller

1850: Edward Leeds

Kelly's 1853: Edward Leeds, miller (formerly at Pockthorpe towermill)

White's 1864: Edward Leeds, farmer & miller

Census 1881: Edward Leeds, (66) b. Kelling, miller & farmer employing 7 men & 2 boys; Sarah Lampprey Leeds (60) b. Honingham, wife; Emma Louisa Leeds (30) b. Hilborough, miller's daughter; Francis Leeds (29)
b. Hilborough, miller's son; Emily Wyer (18) b. Carbrooke, domestic servant; George Field (18)
b. Gooderstone, miller's assistant

Kelly's 1883: Eli Chapman

Kelly's 1892: Frederick Rodwell

Kelly's 1896: Frederick Rodwell, miller (water)

Kelly's 1900: Hilborough Hall, at presrent unoccupied, is the property of Joseph Trueman Mills, Esq., J.P., D.L., of Clermont, Little Cressingham, who is Lord of the Manor & sole landowner. Frederick Rodwell, miller (water), baker & farmer

Kelly's 1904: Frederick Rodwell

Kelly's 1908: Frank Percy Ward

Kelly's 1912: Ernest Edward Cross

Kelly's 1922: Horace Freestone snr

Kelly's 1925: Hilborough Hall, is the property & residence of Henry Trueman Mills, Esq., J.P., who is Lord of the Manor & sole landowner. Horace Freestone, miller (water)

Kelly's 1929: Executors of Mrs. A.E. Freestone

Kelly's 1937: Executors of Mrs. A.E. Freestone

1937: Horace Freestone jnr

Norfolk C.C. report 1969: Mill disused

1990: Bowes & Co

5th September 1991: Mill grade ll listed

1990s: Mill on the market

August 1999: Mill along with 6.33 acres advertised for sale by FPDSavills at a guide price of £325,000

2003: Residential