To Millers
To Be Sold (A BARGAIN)

Nearly all the entire MACHINERY AND GOING GEARS of a TOWER WINDMILL comprising sails, 3 pairs of stones, spur wheel 8 feet diameter fine pitch, windshaft cast iron, winding tackle complete etc. etc., most of which are nearly new or equal thereto.
Apply to Mr. John Cann, Wymondham
Norfolk Chronicle - 18th September 1858

My great, great grandfather, Henry King, bought a smock (wind) mill, of which I have an illustration, which was known as North Mill, Wymondham. Later his son Alfred developed the timber steam sawing business into a furniture factory, which I visited in the 1950/60s and which by this time was run by Henry Thomas King. This was sited alongside the rail line and had its own siding (thus known as Railway Works); if the two are the same, he must have sold the smock mill, as it was only lost in a fire on 17th Feb. 1950.
The notes on the back of the illustration say that it was first erected in Lincolnshire, then moved to Ludham (11 miles NE of Norwich) and in October 1858 it was transported to Wymondham
(7 miles SW of Norwich) by the Great Eastern Railway. The guiding hand was John Cann, miller, brewer and wood merchant. As nearby trees were a problem, it was raised by 14 feet and so became the tallest example in the county.
Mike King - November 2004
N.B. Mill actually moved from Dilham not Ludham

FIRE DESTROYS TOWER MILL
END OF LANDMARK AT WYMONDHAM

Wymondham Mill one of the last tower mills at work in Norfolk grinding corn, crashed to the ground yesterday half an hour after a fire had been discovered at the base. The wooden structure fell on to an adjoining granary containing hundreds of tons of corn feeding stuffs.
The granary was soon well alight and was gutted. Most of its contents are believed to have been destroyed. It is thought the fire started in the engine room of the mill. Before long flames had spread above the two-storey brick base to the five timber storeys above. The area around was thick with flames and smoke. A considerable quantity of crude oil caught alight and burning slowly, added to the dense smoke. When the flames reached up to the sails they gave a last half turn before dropping into the burning mass of the mill below.
HOUSES NEAR
There were houses and a new office building close by. Although the flames were under control by 10 a.m. it was stated last night that firemen would be on duty until daybreak today damping down.
Two appliances from Wymondham Fire Brigade, two from Attleborough and one from Norwich were quickly at the scene, Station Officer Cullum of Wymondham being in charge of operations. The Chief Fire Officer of Norfolk (Mr. Collow) was also present. Sub-Officer W. Howlett of the Wymondham Brigade cut his foot on glass and had to receive remedial attention.
Prompt work by the firemen who doused the Baptist Church House with water saved this building - only about ten feet away from the mill. Windows were cracked and paint blistered by the heat. The water supply of Wymondham was seriously affected by the fire fighting operations. Half of the town was on very low pressure and the houses in the near vicinity were practically without water.
The owners of the mill are F. W. Myhill & Son and the mill is at present under the control of Mr. Peter Myhill of Ashwellthorpe. (He was away collecting a load of oats from Inverness. H.A.)
SMOCK TOWER
Living in retirement in a house just across the road is Mr. W. Farrow, who ran the mill for 27 years, owning it for the last ten of these. He told a reporter that it was a smock tower mill and had been run by the sails up to about fourteen years ago. After his retirement the mill was converted to work by machinery and the sails, though still in existence were fixed.
The stone part of the mill bears a stone showing it to have been erected at Wymondham by John Cann in 1858. Mr. Farrow says that it was brought to Wymondham from Dilham and reassembled. It had previously been a marsh pumping mill in Lincolnshire and was well over a hundred years old.
"It was a big powerful old mill and did a lot of work as it had to in my early days to earn a living with the charge only a shilling a coomb for grinding, fetching and carrying", he said.
It is not only Wymondham people who will miss their landmark - the last remaining of three in Wymondham at one time. Standing on the high ground and painted white, it will be missed by many motorists.
Eastern Daily Press - Saturday 18th February 1950