Salhouse towermill stood on the east side of Mill Road on the south side of the village. The 5 storey mill had a Norfolk boat shaped cap with a petticoat and an 8 bladed fantail. Four double shuttered patent sails, each with 7 bays of 3 shutters and struck by rack and pinion powered 3 pairs of French burr stones and a jumper screen. One pair of stones was 4ft 6 ins and trhe other two pairs were 4ft. A steam mill that drove a single pair of 3 ft stones was situated in the granary.and a maltings were also on the same site.

Preliminary Notice
SALHOUSE
Messrs. Spelman are instructed by Mr. Horace Howlett to Sell by Auction during the latter part of March or the beginning of April The Brick TOWER MILL & LAND in his occupation and HOUSE and SHOP occupied by Mr. RUNACRES.
Particulars of Messrs. I. O. TAYLOR & SONS, Solrs. Norwich and of Messrs. Spelman.
Norfolk Chronicle - 4th March 1882

There were two bakehouses in Salhouse - remembered by people in the village - one, now called "The Old Bakehouse" in Lower Street, near Mill Hill, for a time a shop called "Farman & Walters", and one behind Coe's shop at the Mill Road end of the village.
In 1901 the mill at Mill Road was owned by Mr. Frank Read (a Churchwarden of All Saints Church, who first lived at Willow Bank and thereafter at the White House, Woodbastwick). On 3 May 1901 the Schoolmaster, Mr. John Newcater, took a party of school children to see the mill work. Apparently the mill only worked occasionally then.
Later Mr. Hezekiah Howlett owned the mill and when he died Mr. Ford (agricultural engineer) kept tractors on the site. The mill stood idle for years - at one time a coal merchant stored his coal there and had a stable for his horse.
In the mill's heyday there were concrete bins for drying barley - it was a maltings as well as a corn grinding mill. A correspondent remembers helping dismantle the wooden part of the mill - good Columbian and Oregon pine. It is believed the mill still carried sails at the end of the First World War.
In the Thirties village jumble sales were held in front of the mill in the open air. Unsold stock could be readily stored in the mill. There was also a deep well nearby - remembered by a resident who used to draw water for his grandfather 's chickens.
The end came later in the Thirties when the body of the mill (pyramid shaped and having two floors and a corn shute) was demolished, though some of the buildings remain behind the Salhouse Garage.
A description of the Parish boundary in 1770 ... mentions "millhouses". Investigation places these towards the southwest corner of the parish but so far no other trace remains.
S. Bullers - unknown publication - c. 1970

The Salhouse site still has some buildings from the mill's era standing (as shown in the modern photo which is a closer view but from the same angle as the historic one) but is due to be redeveloped shortly. None of the buildings on site is of sufficient interest to warrant insisting they be kept but they are to be recorded before demolition.
Gareth Hughes, Conservation Officer, Broadland District Council - 14th November 2007

It is not certrtain that Benjamin Bowen was occupying the site in 1851, although it seems to be the most logical option before moving to Salhouse postmill by 1853.

White's 1864: Harcourt Howlett jnr., cattle dealer
White's 1864: William Hargrave, farmer

Kelly's 1879: Harcourt Howlett, farmer

White's 1883: Harcourt Howlett, farmer

Kelly's 1892: Harcourt Howlett, cattle dealer
Kelly's 1892: Horatio Howlett, farmer

Kelly's 1896: Harcourt Howlett, cattle dealer
Kelly's 1896: Horatio Howlett, farmer

Kelly's 1900: Harcourt Howlett, cattle dealer

Kelly's 1904: Harcourt Howlett, cattle dealer

Kelly's 1908: Harcourt Howlett, cattle dealer

1853: Thomas Fiddy, miller

Kelly's 1854: Thomas Fiddy, miller

1856: Thomas Fiddy, miller

1864: Hezekiah Howlett, miller

White's 1864: Hezekiah Howlett & William Hargrave, corn millers & artificial manure manufacturers

1865: Hezekiah Howlett & William Hargrave, millers

1875: Hezekiah Howlett & William Hargrave, millers

1882: Horace Howlett, miller

March 1882: Mill advertised for sale by auction

White's 1883: Horace Howlett, farmer, corn, coal, cake & seed merchant & miller, Willow Bank

O.S. map 1887: Windmill

Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2007