FLORDON MILLS

A mill is mentioned in the Domesday record (1086), possibly at a similar site. Flordon Mill stood on the small tributary of the River Tas that rises in Hethel and Wreningham and flows through Flordon Common and village. It was one of the few in Norfolk to have an overshot wheel - 16 ft in diameter and 5 ft wide, so the water drop was about 17 ft. To achieve this, the water was channelled about 1 km upstream by a dam on the Common and there is a low flood weir near the bridge for the drive to Hapton Hall. The millstream became a long millpond ('The Broadwater') in which water could accumulate overnight and give a constant supply during the day.

Michael Duffield believes the mill dated from the 1600s - if so it replaced an earlier mill mentioned in land transactions of 1539 and 1542 held in the Record Office. It was located on a small tributary that could run low or even dry up, which could be the reason why a windmill was added - a smock mill is mentioned in 19th Century sale documents and newspaper adverts (see below) - but some millers added windmills to increase capacity.

William Lant Duffield (1869-1962) rented Tasburgh mill in 1896 and Flordon mill in 1897 from the Rainthorpe Estate. The mills were linked by a path and he lived at the Tasburgh mill. He went bankrupt, having lost his stock in the 1912 floods. He moved to Tharston mill in 1917 and leased Saxlingham Thorpe mill as well, which he bought in 1936. Here, Duffields animal feed business continues to thrive and celebrated 125 years of trading in 2015. 

There is an excellent Timeline at the Duffield website

Over the years Flordon mill has had many different owners and tenants. In the Norfolk Chronicle of 22 October 1803, Robert Buck informed Graziers that he could  supply them best-quality feed from his wind and water mills, but 3 years later his lease ran out:

Norfolk Chronicle 26 April & 3 May 1806:
Flordon Mills. With immediate Possession. To be Sold by Auction by Wm. Burt on Saturday 3 May 1806 at 4 o'c at the Rose in St Augustines, Norwich.
All that valuable WATER-MILL at Flordon in Norfolk, with the Dwelling-House, stables & other out buildings, garden, & about 5 acres of excellent arable and pasture Land adjoining, in the occupation of Mr. Robert Buck, held under a lease for a term of which 31 years were unexpired at Christmas last, at £25 per ann.
Also a capital Tower Wind-mill standing on the above premises - the whole most desirably situate in a good wheat country.
Apply to Mr. George Watson, Saxlingham or Mr. Grand, attorney, Norwich.

Here, the windmill is described as a 'tower mill', but it was almost certainly a 'smock mill', as described in a later advert. In 1819 the mills were up for sale again, to settle the debts of Mr Benjamin Wilkinson of Flordon Mills.

Norfolk Chronicle 23 May & 4 June 1836:
To Millers. To be LET for a term with occupation at Michaelmas next. All that WATER MILL & WIND MILL at Flordon near Saxlingham, 7 miles from Norwich, with a comfortable Dwelling house & upwards of 100 acres of most excellent Arable & Pasture Land, adjoining the Mill, in a high state of cultivation.
The Mills are now in the occupation of Mr. Miles Blomfield and late in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Edwards. The Mill & Farm united form one of the most eligible & desirable occupations of the size in the county of Norfolk.
Apply to Mr. John Culey of Cossey or Mr. Brightwell, Solr. Surry Street, Norwich.

Norwich Mercury 22 & 29 June 1844
Flordon Mills near Norwich
TO BE LET
with vacant possession at Michaelmas next,
The WATER MILL, Wind Mill, Cottages and about 25 acres of capital Land, at Flordon, now occupied by Mssrs. Wilson & Fielding....

But Wilson and Fielding were leaving at Michaelmas 1844, and their farming stock and 'effects' were up for sale in late September.

Norwich Mercury, 27 Nov 1847
To be Let with Immediate Possession.
The WATER-MILL and WIND-MILL at Flordon, with comfortable Dwelling-house and out-buildings, and also from 20 to 100 Acres of Excellent Land, at the option of the Tenant. These Mills adjoin the Railroad now making from Norwich to Ipswich....

In 1869 Flordon Mill was sold as part of the estate of the late Thomas Brightwell, a Norwich lawyer and major landowner in Flordon.
It formed Lot I:
WATER MILL, with three floors, breast wheel, drives three pairs of stone and tackle, spur wheel with upright shaft, crown wheel and laying shaft, a steam engine, capable of driving three pairs of stones, boiler, heating apparatus, boiler house and shaft. [Freehold]
A SMOCK WINDMILL is a short distance from the above (Water Mill), driving two pairs of stones. [Freehold]
(Mill House & Farm): A COMFORTABLE RESIDENCE, a granary and pollard chamber over, stable for four horses, harness house, two-stall riding stable, loose box and gig house, wagon and cart sheds, horse yards and sheds, orchard, kitchen and flower gardens, a small barn, bullock lodge, cow house, piggery, hay house, and yard. [Copyhold, Manor of Flordon]
TWO CAPITAL COTTAGES & GARDENS occupied by Robert Balls and Noah Nichols, at rents amounting to £10 per annum.
LAND: Several inclosures of ARABLE AND PASTURE LAND, containing all together 35a 3r 1p....'. 

The whole Lot was 'in the occupation of B Brightwell, Esq and his undertenants', Barron Brightwell being one of the sons of Thomas Brightwell. He seems to have continued as the owner. Later he moved to farm at Intwood, but returned to live in the Mill House and is buried in Flordon churchyard.

The accompanying map shows the location of a windmill:

The windmill (called a 'tower mill' once more) appears to have been demolished in 1870 when the machinery and materials were up for sale - 'within three minutes walk of the railway station'. This would account for the lack of remains of this mill today. But the water mill carried on....

Norfolk Chronicle, 15 June 1878
FLORDON MILL, With a capital House and Ten Acres of Meadow Land, now occupied by Mr. Dennis Blomfield, as yearly Tenant...... forms a separate Lot in the Sale of the Rainthorpe Estate.... 

Known millers (from NRO documents, sale advertisements and Directories) are:
John Howard (before 1669 when his Will was made and proved)
John Spencer (lease for 1 year dated 1696)
Robert Buck (in 1803 and up to 1806)
Benjamin Wilkinson (bankrupt by late 1819)
Thomas Edwards (pre-1836)
Miles Blomfield (1836 advert & White's directory)
William Wilson (age 30) & wife, Elizabeth, son Bernard (1841 census). This is almost certainly the son of William Wilson Snr & Philippa nee Claxton who inherited a share of the estate of his uncle, Robert Claxton (died 1844), which included Flordon Mill.
Mr Wilson & Mr Fielding (1844 advert - listed as farmers in White's 1845 Directory)
Barham Brightwell (White's Directory, 1845 - should be 'Barron')
Barron Brightwell (White's Directory, 1854 & 1864 - also listed as a farmer)
Dennis Blomfield (1878 advert; Kelly's Directory 1883, which states that he also ran Tasburgh mill, and that Baron Brightwell was 'Resident' in Flordon Mill House)
Mrs Louisa Blomfield (White's 1890 - and at Tasburgh mill)
William Duffied (from 1896; Kelly's Directory, 1900 - and at Tasburgh mill)
William Duffield (Kelly's Directory 1908 - and at Saxlingham mill)

Kelly's Directory 1916 has no mention of a mill at Flordon but lists Ezra Clethero at 'Mill and Station Farms'.

Flordon Mill was pulled down in 1925. For more on Flordon Mill go to the Norfolk Mills website

After Mr Duffield left, the mill fell into disrepair. It was pulled down in 1925, but the house and farm continued as MILL FARM.

The Nicholson's lived in Mill Farm before Jean Leithall and her husband bought it in 1961. There were three Nicholson sons - Bob, Tom and Arthur. It was a fruit farm in those days and Alan Moore could remember going currant picking there (black currants).

Jean Leithall says that when they moved into Mill Farm in 1961 there was still a lot of bits of the old mill around. In one of their bedrooms they could still see where there was a connecting door between the mill and the house. There is still a draught coming through where it wasn't properly filled in! There was no proper kitchen and when they were altering things to make one, they found a coin dated 1801. The house has a coal cellar.

By the time they arrived the wheel had gone and the millstream no longer ran. The shaft where the wheel had been was a danger to her children and after a pig fell into it they decided to fill it in and make it part of the garden. She rebuilt the wall over the old stream, using recycled bricks from Hapton.

With thanks to the late Jean Leithall, Michael Duffield, Tim Webster, the Norfolk Mills website and FindMyPast newspapers.