Burgh Mill

BURGH MILL

A large water mill of early 18th-century origin, greatly enlarged in the late 18th century and again in the early to mid 19th century, with a late 20th-century addition. The building stands in a north-south orientation with water races to the southern end running from west to east.

The structure is constructed of clapboarded timber frame with some colour-washed brick to the lower storey and internally. The roofs are of pantile and some corrugated iron. The building comprises three storeys and an attic.

The mill underwent several distinct building phases. The earliest phase, dating to the early 18th century, consisted of a brick building of two storeys, of which the former gable is visible at the north end interior and the side walls form the external wall on the east side, whilst the west wall lies within the later enlarged building. The water wheel in this phase was probably external to the building.

Around 1800, the building was heightened in timber frame, adding a further storey and attic. At approximately the same time, the water wheel was enclosed within brickwork and the machinery extended to the upper floors with the provision of a crown wheel. In the early to mid 19th century, the building was enlarged to the west side while retaining the earlier roof, with an aisle-like addition covered by a row of attic gables set at right angles to the earlier roof; a similar row of attic gables was provided on the east side. Shortly thereafter, the building was almost doubled in length to the north with a full-height extension. Between 1969 and 1977, a lean-to was added to the south end, a boarded lean-to was added to the east side of the later extension, and a steel bin was added to the west side.

The west elevation displays four attic gables with an additional gabled lucam at its southern end, supported by straight braces. The gables feature distinctive two-light windows, each with one glazed light and one shuttered light. The rest of the elevation has scattered openings comprising five windows with glazing bars and two vents with slats. A boarded door with a cat hole is set at first-floor level beneath an arched head; another similar door occurs at ground-floor level, with further double doors also present. The southernmost bay of the main block has a lean-to roof, with a further steep lean-to added after 1969.

The east elevation shows a brick ground floor largely belonging to the original mill. The boundary between the original block is clearly visible to the right between the galvanised water tower and a gabled doorway, whilst another break corresponds to the right jamb of a low doorway beside the water wheel. The openings in the brickwork include, from left to right: a semicircular arch over the tail race corresponding to the wheel, a low boarded door beneath a segmental arch, a stable door beneath a gabled hood on brackets, and beyond a 20th-century steel tank, a fixed window of sixteen panes beneath a segmental arch. Directly above this window is a two-light window with one light glazed and one shuttered; to the right is a two-light casement window with glazing bars, a projecting iron pulley wheel providing for a belt from an engine, and a three-light window of which two are glazed and one shuttered. The second floor has five windows at varying levels, above which rises a row of six attic gables, each with the characteristic two-light window, half glazed and half shuttered.

The north elevation has a central lucam on straight braces with a raised boarded door directly below, flanked by two-light windows. The south elevation, partially obscured by the 20th-century lean-to, displays unpainted brickwork and a central blocked opening in line with the bearings of the water wheel, flanked by a pair of staged buttresses.

The interior preserves a complete machinery installation consistent in character with a date of circa 1810–1820; the machinery was referred to as new in sale particulars of 1828. It comprises a cast-iron wheel shaft carrying a cast-iron low breastshot water wheel of 12 feet diameter with timber floats fixed to three rings of integrally cast iron starts on three sets of spokes. An eight-armed cast-iron mortice pitwheel with wood cogs drives a cast-iron wallower on the lower section of a two-part cast-iron upright shaft. A cast-iron mortice great spur wheel formerly drove four pairs of stones from below; the stones and tuns have been removed, leaving only one disconnected stone nut in situ. The governor and sack hoist remain operational, and the machinery continues to run an alternator and other machines via belt drives from the upper section of the upright shaft and layshafts driven from the crown wheel, which also accepted the former drive from a portable engine. The floor where the stones once stood is supported by three iron stanchions. The remains of the gable of the original mill building are visible on this floor, and the return of the original south wall can be seen next to the great spur wheel on the floor below.

The timber frame is of light scantling with typical tension braces cutting through the studs. The roof structure consists of principal rafters with three tiers of butt purlins, queen struts, and ridge pieces. The purlins and common rafters have been cut away to provide unimpeded access to the compartments formed by the attic gables; the principal rafters on the west side are supported on the original brick wall. The northern extension employs re-used wherry masts supporting the first floor. At the south-east corner of the stone floor, 19th-century timber partitions enclose a single-seater privy discharging into the tailrace.

The mill forms a group with a dovecot and boundary wall located approximately 30 metres to the north-north-east.

This mill is an outstanding example of a water mill adapted to rapidly changing demands whilst maintaining its original source of power and a complete early 19th-century machinery installation including the wheel; only the stones have been removed. Remarkably, it survived in commercial use until circa 1980 and remains the only surviving timber-framed working water mill in Norfolk.