Horstead watermill was the last mill on the Bure, it was also one of the biggest, best known and most photographed mills in the county.

However, for several hundred years there were two mills under the same ownership at Horstead, the second being a fullmill that ceased to operate in the 1700s. The lords of the manor have ... one water-mill for
grinding corn and another mill for thickening woollen cloth commonly called a grist-mill and a fulling-mill. In 1809 the fullmill was reported to be very ancient and dilapidated.

The site was probably at least Saxon, it was recorded in Domesday and mentioned as belonging to the Benedictine Priory at St Benet's. When King Henry Vlll dissolved the monasteries he presented it to King's College Cambridge. Ownership remained with King's College over the centuries until 1910, when R. J. Read bought the mill.

The final structure was probably built in 1789 to take two pairs of stones. The building was mainly of white weatherboard over a brick lower floor consisting of six dark brick arches. The pantiled roof section on the downstream side had six small matching gable sections with a seventh larger one to the right. The 4th and 7th gables bore lucums for the loading and unloading of wherries that came down the Aylsham Navigation, which had been completed in October 1779.

Water Corn Mill to be Sold

In May 1773 An Act of Parliament passed for making the River Bure Navigable. But the Navigation was not completed till 1779. It extends from Colteshall to Aylesham for boats of 13 Tons Burden & Cost sox thousand & one punds - To the Prejudice of the Trade of Horstead Mill..... and to the Great Damage of T J Batcheler, Esq's meadows & royalty from Colteshall to meyton Bridge. The land being frequently flooded & The Fish & Swans Disturbed or Stolen.
Dr.Charles Grape, rector of Horstead - c. 1800

HORSTEAD MILL

By early evening on 2nd September 1939 Mr. Godbold, the Horstead Billeting Officer had placed all the evacuees in homes around the village – except two – a boy of thirteen and a seven year old girl, cousins. None of the households he had approached could accommodate these two children so he was immensely relieved when Mr. R. J. Read, the owner of Horstead Mill, offered to take them in.

I was the seven year old, and sublimely unaware of what problems had been caused by my electing to be evacuated with my cousin rather than with my own school.

The next morning Mr. Read called together all the members of his household; I can remember quite a number of people all standing in the Courtyard in front of the Stables, listening attentively as Mr. Read announced that England was now at war with Germany. Naturally enough, the implications of this announcement went straight over my head.

Mr. and Mrs. Read lived in the Mill House with their three daughters, a cook (Jean) and a housemaid (Kathleen). They also employed a number of outside staff to care for the grounds and the animals. Ever thoughtful, they quickly invited my mother, my uncle and aunt to visit and stay at the Mill House to reassure them that we were happy and being well cared for. In fact, I was having a wonderful time. Mr. Howell, the Headmaster of my cousin’s school, eventually set up a classroom for the boys in the Village Hall. This took about six weeks to arrange and during that time we explored the countryside and generally enjoyed the unfamiliar liberty.

The youngest daughter of the household, Marigold aged 12, took me under her wing and I was allowed to ‘help’ her; she rose at 6.00 am each day and her first task was to take water to the horses. The galvanised iron buckets were very heavy. We carried them down the bank of the little stream that ran close by and could only half fill them with the clear, cold water as they were beyond our combined strength to carry if they were full. Marigold was small, wiry and very strong for her age. When this chore was done we mixed up a smelly concoction of bran, filled bowls with grain and carried them through the Mill, deserted at that time in the morning, out to the ducks and hens all around the Mill Pond. While they were feeding we collected eggs and carried them back to the house. Quite often we stopped inside the Mill to feed the cats although this was frowned upon as the cats were supposed to fend for themselves and survive on the abundant supply of mice and rats attracted by the Mill smells.

I was not allowed into the Mill while it was working – not that I minded, as to a small child it was dreadfully noisy, smelly and a pretty frightening place to be. In the early morning it was empty but never quiet; the timbers creaked and groaned all the time as if they were complaining, and the rush of water through the Mill Race seemed deafeningly loud to me. I was also fascinated by the eel boxes on either side of the Race. One day, on an errand for Jean, the Cook, I went into the larder and saw a plate of black shiny eels, cut up and ready for the pot. Imagine my horror when I touched a piece experimentally and it moved on the plate. I’ve never willingly encountered eels since then.

The wonderful period of freedom had to come to an end and I was duly taken along to Horstead School Infants class. My teacher was Mrs. Ida Durrell and I have the happiest memories of being taught by her as she was kindness personified and made lessons thoroughly enjoyable.

My cousin and I were both very sad to have to leave the Reads and Mill House. As an adult I can understand their decision to move to a smaller property, easier for them to manage, although at the time I was upset. Their staff were all being conscripted, Jean and Kathleen were joining the A.T.S. and the men were being called up. Mr. and Mrs. Read tried to take us with them but were not allowed to move us out of Horstead village – red tape and bureaucracy prevailed - so we were finally moved to The Forge where Harry and Lily Foulger, the Blacksmith and his wife, made us very welcome. I stayed there with them until mid May 1945 and left Horstead Village with great reluctance as well as vivid and happy memories.

Valerie Walker-Dendle - 23rd June 2006

There were two wheels, the largest was the older and was undershot with the other having been replaced by a more powerful turbine in later years.

The mill ceased to grind corn for flour early in the early 1900s possibly as a result of the loss of its water transport after the 1912 flood. However, corn was ground once more in 1915 after Read's Norwich mills broke down and this carried on until the end of WW 1 when the mill reverted back to producing animal feed. Although hopper feed mixing machines had been installed, many of the old flour dressing and milling machines still remained to the end.

It was nice to see a picture of my husband's uncle, Jack Drayton (stone dressing 1960). I believe it was taken from an Anglia TV documentary made about that time.
As far as I'm aware, Jack was the last miller. He lived to a good age and served in Mesopotamia in the First World War. I remember him coming to my wedding in 1969. His wife Ida was the village schoolteacher. She'd been brought up with her three sisters and one brother (my father-in-law, Leslie Durrell)at The Limes in Horstead. We were down last summer, looking round the mill ruins whilst my husband reminisced about school holidays spent playing with the mill cats and "helping" Uncle Jack.
Ruth Durrell - 22nd February 2006

William Woolston snr was listed as journeyman miller in the 1851 census and his son William was at that time working at Hoveton Steam Mill.

Horstead Mill was gutted by fire on 23rd January, 1963, which was one of the coldest winter's in many years. Three appliances attended the blaze. Holes had to be carved in over a foot of ice in the river to allow access for the water hoses and the even then water froze on the ends. Although the fire was brought under control within an hour, it was too late to save the mill. It is thought the cause of the fire may have been an electrical fault.

On 11th May 1973 the Eastern Daily Press reported that the East Suffolk and Norfolk River Authority had almost finished building a water gauging station on the mill site to measure the flow of the river. At this time Read's, who still owned the site, were contemplating a hotel using outline planning permission that had been granted some time ago but this did not come to fruition.

College survey 1586: Two water-mills, one a grist-mill and the other a fulling-mill

1667: Andrew Wortley

Lease 1685: Daniel Warren (rector of Horstead) tenant of "two water-mills for to grind corne and the fullen-mill with the Mill house built upon the Common Streame", sub-let to Thomas Lane of Horstead, yeoman

1687: Stephen Watts (grandfather of Henry Palmer Watts) renewed lease of Horstead with the College. Thomas Palmer was leaseholder of the mill and mill house - daughter Alice married Daniel Warren

1700: Daniel Warren died

1700: George Warren

1728: George Warren died childless and left his estate to Henry Palmer Watts snr

Thursday 16th March 1775: The first keel or wherry went through Coltishall Lock - Mr. Ansell's Grampus

Mary Hardy's Diary Thursday 29th February 1776: John Colls of Horstead, miller

1780: Henry Palmer Watts snr died leaving his wife, Mary Watts as leaseholder

c. 1789: Mill rebuilt by Henry Palmer Watts jnr. John Colls, miller & farmer

October 29th 1793: John Neal a miller's lad about 17, suffocated in a meal trough

1796: Colls & Watts

29th September 1797: Colls & Watts partnership dissolved. Mill advertised for sale

Faden's map 1797: Horstead Mill

21st December 1800: Benjamin Harmer aged 10 smothered casually at the Mill

1802: John Colls

1806: John Colls died in Yarmouth and was buried near the south door of Horstead church

1806: Richard Colls

17th September 1814: Joseph Mitchell, married man, aet 73. Mary the wife of Joseph Mitchell, act 73. These poor people came to their death casually & by misfortune as stated in the Coroner's Warrant. They were paupers & found drowned on 17 Sep. 1814 in Horstead Mill Pool.

1835: Richard Colls

White's 1836: Cooke & Gambling, corn millers
White's 1836: Samuel Cooke, Mill house

White's 1845: Samuel Cooke, miller - Cooke & Gambling (also at Buxton)
White's 1845: Mr. Samuel Cooke, Mill house

White's 1854: Cooke & Gambling, corn millers

White's 1864: Samuel Cubitt Cooke, corn miller, Mill house

Kelly's 1883: Samuel Benjamin Cooke

Kelly's 1892: Benjamin Barwood - miller, East Norfolk Roller Mills, The Mill, Horstead

Kelly's 1896: Benjamin Barwood - miller, East Norfolk Roller Mills, The Mill, Horstead

Kelly's 1904: Benjamin Barwood - miller, East Norfolk Roller Mills, The Mill, Horstead

Kelly's 1908: Benjamin Barwood - miller, East Norfolk Roller Mills, The Mill, Horstead

1910: Mill bought by R.J. Read from King's College, Cambridge

Kelly's 1912: Robert John Read

1918: Mill ceased to grind corn for flour

Kelly's 1922: R.J. Read Ltd

Kelly's 1937: R.J. Read Ltd - millers (water), The Mill, Horstead - Tel. Coltishall 5

1937: An additional lucum added to the gable end of the mill to cater for road transport.

23rd January, 1963: Mill destroyed by fire

1973: East Suffolk and Norfolk River Authority installed a water gauging station