Harleston towermill stood on the corner of Candlers Lane, Jay's Green, Harleston. The five storey mill had 3 pairs of French burr stones that were powered by 4 double shuttered patent sails, each with 8 bays of 3 shutters and 1 bay of 4 shutters. The boat shaped cap held an 8 bladed fan. A portable steam engine was supplying auxiliary power to the mill in 1861.

Tithe Award 1840
Map 1839
Owner: William Barber
Occupier: do

HARLESTON
Bale KNIGHTS
Police accomplice in case of corn robberies.
Charge by Suffolk Police not proceeded with.
Norfolk News - 12th January 1861

J. Caley Respectfully announces the undermentioned SALES by AUCTION during the next month
At HARLESTON
A Neat Dwelling House & Garden. Capital Brick Tower Windmill with 3 pairs of stones and a Cottage in four tenements, the property of the late Mr. William Barber.
Messrs. Carthew & Fox Solrs.
Norfolk Chronicle & Norfolk News - 18th May 1861

HARLESTON
To Millers. To be Sold by Auction by John Caley at the Magpie Hotel Harleston on Wednesday 7 August 1861 at 6 o'c in 2 lots.
Lot 1. A well-built BRICK TOWER WINDMILL of good elevation with 5 floors & all necessary machinery in first rate working condition driving 3 pairs of stones (to which the present tenant has connected a portable steam engine) most advantageously situated at Harleston very near the Railway Station & now in full trade; a neat slated RESIDENCE, Garden, Retail Shop, Counting house, Stable, Gig house, Workshop, Granary, Pig-styes etc. & 2 small enclosures of old PASTURE LAND all adjoining & now let under a lease which expires at Michaelmas 1862 to Mr. Bale Knights.
Freehold.
Apply to Mr. James Muskett, Mr. W. L. Fox, Solr. & of the Auctioneer, all of Harleston.
Norfolk Chronicle & Norfolk News - 20th & 27th July & 3rd August 1861

Local Bankrupts (from the London Gazette)
Friday April 4
Bale Knights, late of Harleston, Norfolk, miller
Norfolk Chronicle - 12th April 1862

The Bankruptcy Act 1861
Notice of Sittings for Last Examination
BALE KNIGHTS late of Harleston in the County of Norfolk, Miller & now a prisoner of debt in the Gaol of the City of Norwich having ben adjudged Bankrupt under a Petition for Adjudication of Bankruptcyt filed in the Court of Bankruptcy for the London District on the 18th day of March...
A public sitting for the said Bankrupt to pass his last examination.
Norfolk News - 19th April 1862

To be let
A Capital BRICK TOWER WINDMILL driving three pairs of French stones with all the requisite machinery & well situated for trade, near the terminus of the Waveney Valley Railway at Harleston.
Possession at Michaelmas next.
Apply to Mr. Muskett, Harleston.
Norfolk Chronicle - 6th September 1866

Situations Vacant
TO MILLERS
Wanted, a JOURNEYMAN as Second Hand.
Apply to H. L. Hudson, Harleston.
Norfolk News - 31st July 1875

Situations Vacant
TO MILLERS
Wanted, a Journeyman as SECOND HAND. A married man preferred.
Apply to H. L. Hudson, Harleston.
Norfolk News - 6th November 1875

Robert Myhill, who was born in August 1861, was recorded as aged 16 in the 1881 census and he emigrated to Canada in 1888.

On 5th January 1974, Gordon F. Williams wrote to Harry Apling to say his maternal grandfather, William Blackwood had worked Jay's Green mill from about 1870 until it was taken down in 1916.

William Barber b.1779, my GGG Grandfather was miller at Jay's Green Tower Mill between 1830s - 1851. His son Samuel Barber b.1811 was also at Jay's Green in 1839, then in 1845 - 1864 he was Miller at Scole_Tower_Mill. His son William Samuel Barber b.1837 was Miller at the following: 1861 - Eye, 1871 - Gissing, 1881 - Rockland All Saints, 1891 - Hingham and between 1878 -1879 William appears to have been at Carlton_Rode_Tower_Mill. William was at Hingham until 1904, his Step-Son Robert John Watling was recorded as miller up to 1908.
Sarah Barber - 10th January 2008

The 1851 census records several mill workers and retired millers living in the parish:

William Barber (71) b.Metfield, Suffolk, retired miller
Mary Ann Barber (67) b.Bungay
Abigail Barber (29) b.Mendham, Suffolk
Rebecca Barber (25)
Address: Tower Hill

William Cook (87) b.Oulton, Suffolk, retired miller (widower)
Mary Harper (55) b.Pakefield, Suffolk (widow)
Address: Old Market

Robert Debenham (33) b.Harleston, journeyman miller
Ann Debenaham (33) b.Mutford, Suffolk
Address: Thorofare

Visiting Robert Rayner, a carpenter of London Road, employing 2 men:
Philip Carpenter (58) b.Weybread, Suffolk, retired miller

William Stanton (49) b.Pulham, retired miller
Mary Stanton (51) b.Tivetshale
Elizabeth Cattermole (25) b.Pulham, companion (neice)
Address: Broad Street

Samuel Warne (36) b.Harleston, journeyman miller.
Mary J. Warne (37)
Harrit Warne (4)
Sarah Warne (60) (mother)
Address: Bunkers Hill

Unallocated Harleston millers:
Kelly's 1879: William Edwards, corn, cake, coal manure merchant & miller
Kelly's 1879: George Francis, miller

1830: William Barber, miller

White's 1836: William Barber, corn miller

O.S. map 1837: Windmill

Robson's 1839: William & Samuel Barber, millers (Samuel Barber also meal & flour merchant)

Titeh Award 1840: William Barber owner & occupier

White's 1883: Henry Lombard Hudson, corn & coal merchant, miller, maltster & farmer
White's 1883: George Blackwood, miller's foreman

O.S. map 1885: Windmill

1888: Hudson & Blackwood, millers

c.1895: Henry Hudson left the mill and bought Harleston steam mill and maltings

Census 1901: William Blackwood, miller

Kelly's 1900: William Blackwood, miller (wind & steam), Tower mill

Kelly's 1904: William Blackwood, miller (wind & steam), Tower mill

Kelly's 1908: William Blackwood, miller (wind & steam), Tower mill

Kelly's 1912: Samuel Gardiner, miller, corn, coal, cake, manure & seed merchant, Broad street & Jay's Green

1916: Mill taken down, although in good order, by Knights of Harleston but the Mill House remained

Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2004