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Village History |
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Hempstead had two watermills within the parish, both on the River Glaven - see below. |
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Hempstead Hall watermill was by far the oldest of the two and had probably ceased working by the early 1800s. |
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c.1952 |
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16th March 2003 |
Hempstead watermill and the adjoining mill house are built of local flint and brick under a Norfolk pantiled roof. The present building was built by Richard John Gurney in 1830 and at that time was known as Holt Mill, undoubtably because the mill is actually within the parish of Holt. The original watercourse, along which the parish boundary still runs, was moved northwestwards some 40 yards slightly towards Holt in order to better accommodate the mill machinery layout. The River Glaven, which used to be called Hempstead Beck, was effectively dammed by the mill thereby forming the large lake that is still above the mill today. At the time locals used to say, "Mr. Gurney, he built a barn where there weren't enough corn to put in it and a mill where there weren't enough water to turn the wheel." |
The full history of Hempstead watermill is on the Norfolkmills website |
If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. Please
or telephone 07836 675369 |
Website copyright © Jonathan Neville 2020 |