NHER 12495 (Building record) - The Water Mill, Deopham Road

Water mill 'south of town' was worked not by a stream but by springs (S1).
Information from record card (S2).

January 1977. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Watermill and Mill House. 18th-century watermill. Plastered. Pantile roof with gabled ends. Three storeys. Three widely spaced windows with glazing bars. Doors left of centre on ground and first floors. Right hand double doors. Adjoining mill house to right (south east), early/mid-19th-century, painted brick front, black glazed pantile roof with gable ends. Two storeys. Three windows. Sashes with glazing bars. Central round-headed doorway with semi-circular fanlight and glazed door. Brick chimney stacks."
Information from (S3).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S3) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 February 2022.

November 1978. Field Observation.
Visit by E. Rose (NAU).
Large three bay, two storey irregular timber framed building, tall, perhaps 17th century or merely a local vernacular; no dateable details visible. Attached miller's house of brick, three bays, two storeys, seems mid 19th century. No machinery remains. Ceased working in 1930s. Springs feed ford across track (probably old course of road). Pond is only 0.75m deep but never completely freezes. One sluice drove the mill, still pouring into the 6m deep pit beneath, then travelling through a tunnel to emerge two fields to the north. Two other sluices discharge into ditches east and west.
Note a well also provided for drinking water, despite springs.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 30 November 1978. Information from record card (S2).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 February 2022.

A windmill is marked on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map (S4), on south side of lake. Why, if springs never failed as is claimed?
E. Rose (NAU). Information from record card (S2).
This is now recorded as NHER 65416.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 February 2022.

Newspaper cutting in file (S5).

According to newspaper article (S6) (copy in file) the mill is of clay lump for all of its three storeys and dates from 1841 to 1848. It is apparently on the site of a medieval mill mentioned in 1316.
E. Rose (NAU), 16 October 1998.