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1939
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Saxlingham Thorpe
Mill River Tas |
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1939
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Saxlingham Thorpe (sometimes know as Newton Flotman, as part of the site lies in that parish) watermill was one of the few working mills left in Norfolk in 2003, being owned and run by Duffields. In its heyday of waterpower in the 1800s the mill wheel drove 3 pairs of stones and three flour mills. |
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July
1967
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July 1967
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In 1804 Saxlingham Thorpe mill was being worked in conjunction with the nearby postmill but by 1838 this had been rebuilt as Saxlingham Thorpe towermill. |
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Plan of estate,
property of the late George Watson, esq., table of reference to distances,
windmills, watermills, tollgate house and site of manor house, premises
and gardens marked. |
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Rebuilding
July 1970
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Notice re:- |
Notice re:- |
Valuable Freehold Water Corn Mill, Superior Tower_Windmill, Capital Dwelling House, Granaries and Land at Saxlingham and Mulbarton. |
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Norfolk Chronicle -
9th, 16th, 23rd & 30 April 1825 |
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To MILLERS |
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O.S. Map 1889 - 1895 Image produced from the www.old-maps.co.uk service with permission of Landmark Information Group Ltd. and Ordnance Survey |
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In 1955, having left School and moved to Newton Flotman
from Brooke, I worked for Duffield's at their Saxlingham Thorpe Mill,
my job was to repair Sacks on the Sack floor. Some of them were repaired
by having Patches sown on to them, this was the job of two Ladies, one
of them, a young woman called Rita, and the other a Mrs Gailer., I repaired
them by Gluing Patches on the inside with a EVOstick type substance. Another
of my jobs was to clean out Flour Bags, which was done under cover in
the Yard, by using a Suction Machine, the idea was to throw the neck of
the Sack over the mouth of the Suction Pipe and the Sack would be sucked
inside out. The Sacks were lined with Paper, therefore the suction was
very strong, and on cold winter mornings, and your hands were numb if
you didn't keep a tight grip on the Sack it would be swallowed up the
Pipe to the Mesh Guard at the top, you then had to stop the Machine to
allow it to fall back down again under it's own weight, you could often
lose Fingernails if you were not careful doing this work. I left there
to join the Royal Navy, (I was 16 and a half,) before I was called up
for National Service. I also recall that at that time several of the Lorries
were Ex-Army, named Crossleys. |
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April
1977 showing the gable end of the old mill
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April 1977 |
After torrential
rain on 16th September 1968, the whole of the Tas valley flooded and covered
a vast area including the area around the mill. While the Anglian Water
Authority were realigning the river course on both sides of the new road
bridge, Duffields took the opportunity to fill in the watercourse cut from
the river Tas that was originally used to provide water to power the mill.
It took six thousand cubic yards of hardcore to block the old waterway. During the summer of 1980 ten new grain silos were erected on the site of the old filled in waterway at a cost of £370,000. These silos had a storage capacity of 5.000 tonnes - six silos held 680 tonnes each and the other four 250 tonnes. |
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The mill was dramatically enlarged during the summer of 1970, at which time the front of the old watermill became lost to sight as it was encompassed by a new large cladded structure. A modern pneumatic roller flour mill was then installed by the company Henry Simon, one of the leading milling engineers in the UK. By 1972 Duffields, having enlarged and modernised the mill, were taking in 100 tons of cereals a week and storing 225 tons of flour for biscuit making. Duffields chose
to concentrate their business on one site for the purpose of efficiency
and ease of communications - Saxlingham Thorpe mill is right beside the
Norwich - Ipswich road. As a result Buxton and
Tharston Mills were both closed in 1970. |
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2nd September 2007 |
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Duffields' Milling History
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1891-1892: W.I. Duffield started milling at the Black
Tower Mill, Mattishall, making stone ground flour. The mill developed
up to 20h.p. 1910: Saxlingham Mill was acquired 1919: Tharston Mill was acquired; Tasburgh and Saxlingham Mills were relinquished, but not for long 1924: William C. Duffield took over the mill at Buxton, remodelling it into a 2½ sacks per hour roller mill 1928: Saxlingham Mill was reacquired 1936: W.L. Duffield & Sons Ltd. was formed 1940: Animal feedstuff compound was first produced at Saxlingham 1950: Duffields acquired the tenancy of Hautbois Hall Farms (176 acres) 1951: Buxton flour mill was remodelled and capacity doubled 1952: Tharston flour mill was remodelled and capacity doubled 1953: Lamas Rectory and and 46 acres of glebeland adjacent to the farm were purchased 1960: The warehouse at Buxton was built 1962: The Duffield Group was formed with Duffield Mills Ltd. as the holding company 1963: A further 123 acres of land adjacent to the farm were purchased 1964: Buxton flour mill capacity was again doubled to ten sacks per hour 1965: The feed capacity at Saxlingham was doubled 1970: Modernisation at Saxlingham, doubling capacity
for flour production despite the closure of Tharston
and Buxton Mills. The group today employs a
staff of 109. |
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O.S. Map 2005 Image reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey |
The mill suffered £10,000 worth of flood damage in 1968 but survived. In 1972 the wheel was removed and the site was greatly enlarged. The new buildings that were erected almost completely enclosed the original structure. Until that time the waterwheel had still been used on occasions and was cleaned monthly. The last time the spur wheel was recogged, synthetic wood was used. The gable end of the old brick watermill building could still be seen from the road in 2005. |
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Saxlingham
poll book 1768: George Watson
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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 01263 587564 or
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| Nat Grid Ref TM21209787 | Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2004 |