There was a smock mill on the site later occupied by Jennings'_Mill. It was marked on the 1794 and 1824 maps. Peter De Caux was at the mill in 1834, when he was made bankrupt.

Peter De Caux, formerly of Golden Ball Street in the city of Norwich, miller, Groat-maker and Corn Chandler, and late of the Hamlet of Thorpe, in the county of the City of Norwich, Miller and Groat maker, Bankrupt.
London Gazette - 4th March 1834

To be Sold or Let with immediate possession

The mill was marked on the 1838 map. There was a smock saw mill near the Gas Works in 1847, by which time Gallant's tower mill had been built.

Mary Ann De Caux was the miller from 1847, having been born c.1802 at Hickling, Norfolk. She was listed in Hunt's Directory of 1850 as miller at Mousehold, with a home in Thorpe Hamlet. In 1851 she was given as a mill owner aged 49 living at Chalk Hill, Thorpe Road with her mother Susanna Kerrison, 67, and brother George C. Kerrison, 47, who was listed as a miller. Jennings' tower mill seems to have replaced Mousehold smockmill c.1854.