Horsham St Faith Mill
River Hor

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c.1910
c.1910

Horsham St Faith mill was a small estate mill set beside Mill Farm, it was built of brick with a Norfolk pantiled roof.


The mill and mill house c.1910
The mill and mill house c.1910

The mill finally ceased to operate some time before the second world war and was eventually demolished when it was recognised that it had become a danger to children.

By 1977, the only visible remains were two outlet channels that were set fairly wide apart and not facing in the same direction. One was kept running to provide water for cows.


Stephen Ewing was a tenant at both the watermill and the postmill when they were jointly valued at £35 in 1795. In the 1830s he was running the postmill and he had moved to the smockmill by the end of the 1840s. It is conceivable that he erected the smockmill as a replacement for his older postmil.

Stephen Ewing owned and worked the postmill in Horsham St Faith but lived and had his shop in the adjacent hamlet of Newton St Faith. By 1849 he had taken over the smockmill that was a few yards further up the road to the north and by 1854, he was listed as miller and baker; it could be that he had converted his shop in Newton St Faith to a bakery or he could have started a bakery on the premises of the smockmill.

Mill site February 2003 Remains of the brick channel February 2003
Mill site February 2003
Remains of the brick channel February 2003

During the first world war a contingent of soldiers stationed in the area were camping in the fields opposite and during cold weather ripped out some of the wood to make fires.


The mill house and farm June 1967
The mill house and farm June 1967

Originally the water dropped 12 feet to power the mill. The 1977 owner said they used to swim and dive in the millpond when he was a boy.


The headrace in June 1967 Mill dam 15th February 2003
The headrace in June 1967
Mill dam 15th February 2003

Richard Eglington, miller, farmer and owner of the smock_windmill and the watermill, died on 6th August 1866 leaving his wife Mary as executrix.


Situations Vacant
TO MILLERS

Wanted, a Young Man to work a Water Mill.
Apply to Mr. Buckenham, St. Faiths.
Norfolk News - 5th October 1872


Richard Eglington snr was the grandson of Samuel Eglington, miller at Bawdeswell_smockmill, who was born c.1709 and married Sarah Humphreys on 2nd October 1844 at St Mary's, Reepham. They had 2 sons John (bap. 5th Feb 1748) and Samuel (bap. 5 June 1750), John's youngest child, Richard Eglington snr, went on to become the miller at Horsham St Faith.


In 1866 Richard Eglington snr was working the water mill in conjunction with the smock_windmill that stood to the north west, next to what was then the workhouse and where the St Faith's crematorium was later built.


I have been researching my family tree because I remembered so much my Grandfather told me about living in Horsham St Faiths when a boy and the memories he had of the mill there! My Grandfather was the grandson of Richard Eglington Jnr 1834-1908 Miller at St Faiths and I believe Stoke_Holy_Cross. His Father was Arthur. When Arthur died (1894) a year after my Grandfathers birth his mother (who was born in Norfolk) married Walter William Drake the blacksmith in Horsham St Faiths and that was when he came to live there for a short time.
Janice Shaw née Eglington - 14th May 2009


O. S. Map 1880-82
O. S. Map 1880-82
Courtesy of NLS map images

O. S. Map 1881
O. S. Map 1881
Courtesy of NLS map images

O.S. Map 2005
O.S. Map 2005
Image reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey

Kelly's 1900: William C. Eglington, shopkeeper

Kelly's 1904: Richard Eglington, grocer & deputy supt. registrar


1325: Arable land, pasture, watermill and mill sold for £24-7s-0d

1533: Prior sold the mill to Thomas Gray

1794: Mill owned by Phillip Stephens

1795: Stephen Ewing tenant. Watermill and windmill valued at £35

Faden's map 1797: Horsham Mill

Bryant's map 1826: Water Mill

White's 1836: Richard Eglington, corn miller

Census 1841: Richard Eglington (40) miller
Mary Eglington (40) b.Thetford
Emma Eglington (15)
Elijah Eglington (13) miller's apprentice
Mary Eglington (11); Ann Eglington (9); Richard Eglington (7); John Eglington (5);
Arthur Eglington (2)

Hugh King (20) miller
Address: Mill Street

White's 1845: Richard Eglington snr

Census 30th March 1851: Richard Eglington (50) b.Kerdiston, miller employing 1 man
Mary Eglington (53) b.Kirby
Emma Eglington (25) b.Kerdiston
Mary Eglington (21) b.St Faith's
Ann Eglington (18) b.St Faith's
Richard Eglington (17) b.St Faith's, miller's apprentice
John Eglington (14) b.St Faith's
Arthur Eglington (12) St Faith's, scholar

Elijah Eglington (23) b.19th January 1828, Gt Witchingham, miller
Elizabeth Eglington (24) b.Norwich, wife
Edward Eglington (4 mnths) b.St Faith's.

Kelly's 1854: Richard Eglington, miller, farmer & baker

Index of Wills 1854: Stephen Ewing

Census 1861: Richard Eglington (60) b.Kerdistone, miller & farmer of 50 acres employing 2 men and 1 boy Mary Eglington (63) b.Kirby
Mary Eglington (31) b.Horsham St Faith, daughter, unmarried
Ann Eglington (28) b.Horsham St Faith, daughter, umarried
Arthur Eglington (22) b.Horsham St Faith, unmarried, miller
Address: Mill Street

Richard Eglington (27) b.Horsham St Faith, miller
Marian Eglington (23) b.Itteringham, wife
Alice Eglington (1) b.Horsham St Faith
Address: 30 Lower Street.

White's 1864: Richard Eglington snr, miller

1866: Richard Eglington snr, miller - also at Horsham St Faith smockmill

6th August 1866: Richard Eglington snr died.
His Water Corn Mill to be let

1872: William Buckenham, owner

Kelly's 1879: Richard Eglington jnr also at Stoke Holy Cross

Census 1881: Richard Eglington (45) b.St Faiths, miller & general shopkeeper
Marian S. Eglington (42) b.Tuttington, miller & general shopkeeper's wife
Marian M. Eglington (12) b.St Faiths, scholar
John H. Eglington (9) b.St Faiths, scholar
Charles E. Eglington (4) St Faiths, scholar
Address: Swan Street, General Shop

White's 1883: Richard Eglington, miller & shopkeeper
White's 1883: Robert Bullard, farmer, Mill farm

Kelly's 1892: Richard Eglington jnr, Miller (water) & grocer

1895: Richard Eglington jnr, miller and parish councillor

Kelly's 1896: Richard Eglington jnr, miller (water) & grocer & dept. supt. registrar

Kelly's 1900: Richard Eglington jnr, miller (water) & grocer & deputy supt. registrar

c.1902: Mill ceased working

Kelly's 1933: Alfred Vincent, farmer, Mill farm

c.1952 - 1992: Wilfred & Hope Vincent, Mill Farm


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

Nat Grid Ref TG2225 1585
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Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2003