Hunworth watermill is quite an old building dating from c.1750. The site is even older and goes back to at least Saxon times with milling dues having been paid since the time of Edward the Confessor.

The mill and house are integral and built of a mixture of Norfolk red brick and flint with a pantiled roof. The brown stained lucum is extremely large, being supported from the ground and would have completely sheltered any waggon loading or unloading.

The mill was disused for some 80 years and was at one point lying almost derelict.

When sold in 1974 the machinery was intact. The wheel was 14 feet in diameter and just 4 feet 6 inches wide. It was constructed of wood with cast iron hubs. Unusually, all the teeth on all cogs were wooden - even on the stone nuts and pitwheel. The drive to the two pairs of stones was from above, which was a very rare configuration. The only other Norfolk mills to share this configuration found so far were at Snettisham,Stoke_Holy_Cross, Thornage and Weybourne. Possibly it is simply coincidence that Thornage happens to be the mill below Hunworth.

Baptism records also show that Richard Johnson Jackson (miller) and wife Mary Anne, baptised their daughter Mary Sophia on 5th October 1834 at Hunworth church.

Journeyman miller, John Gymer and his wife Sarah, baptised their daughter Elizabeth Sarah on 12th November 1843 at Hunworth church.
John Gymer was recorded as miller when he and wife Sarah, baptised their daughter Emily Esther on 7th June 1846

William Riches (miller) and his wife Sarah, baptised their daughter Elizabeth on 19th March 1848 and daughter Anna Maria on 19th May 1850 at Hunworth church.

Barney Bean (miller) and his wife Emily, baptised their son Benjamin on 28th June 1857 and another son Benjamin on 19th September 1858 at Hunworth church.

The mill with the Grade ll listed mill house and an acre of ground was sold at auction by Savills at the Royal Hotel in Norwich on 12th July 1974.

Since that time the property has been renovated on at least one occasion and was sold again in March 2002 for £1.2 million. The 2.5 acre gardens had been designed by Chelsea Gold Medal Award winning gardener, Anne Maynard.

Hunworth Mill was the setting for the film The Kingfisher starring Wendy Hillier and Rex Harrison.

In 1844 John Pegg, who had been a miller at Hellesdon, built Hindolveston_towermill as a replacement for his postmill, which although advertised for sale by Thomas Pegg in 1829, had remained in the family. William Pegg had taken over the running of the towermill by 1888.

1815: Thomas Storey, miller

1817: Thomas Storey, miller

1819: Thomas Storey, miller

Bryant's map 1826: Mill

1834: Richard Johnson Jackson, miller

White's 1836: Richard Jackson, miller

1843: John Gymer, journeyman miller (employee)

1846: John Gymer, miller

1848: William Riches, miller

1850: William Riches, miller

1857: Barney Bean, miller

1858: Barney Bean, miller

White's 1864: Robins Cooke

White's 1883: James Pegg, miller, baker & farmer, also Thurning and Hindolveston

Kelly's 1883: Charles Ruby Francis

Kelly's 1892: William Pegg, also Thurning and Hindolveston

Kelly's 1896: William Pegg, miller (water); resides at Hindolveston, also at Thurning and Hindolveston

Kelly's 1900: William Pegg, miller (water); resides at Hindolveston, also at Thurning and Hindolveston

Kelly's 1904: William Pegg, miller (water); resides at Hindolveston, also at Thurning and Hindolveston

c.1968: Mill restored by Dr. Elliot for residential use

27th September 1972: Mill designated with a Grade ll listing

12th July 1974: Sold by auction with machinery intact

1977: Mill renovated

March 2002: Mill sold having been advertised by FPD Savills asking for offers in excess of £1,000,000

1st October 2023: Mill living quarters flooded to around a foot deep with worst rain storm since August 1912

2024: Waterwheel, pitwheel, wallower, crownwheel, 2 pairs of stones and nuts still in situ