Past

Traditional mills are a historical feature of Norfolk and greatly enhance the landscape. They once milled wheat to provide flour for village bakeries that produced the staple food of life - bread. Low lying areas of the land required draining into the rivers to ensure that water levels were suitable for growing agricultural crops and to prevent flood damage to buildings. Windmills were a widely used natural power source for milling and pumping throughout Norfolk. Watermills were also used throughout the county for corn and animal feed (grist) milling but some were converted to a variety of other uses including papermaking, cloth production (fulling) sawmilling, water pumping and even mustard milling.

Present

The surviving mills are a tribute to the designs and craftsmanship of millwrights and building tradesmen. The ravages of poor climate constantly erode the structure of mills and make repair and re-furbishment an ongoing necessity for any mills to survive. Many mills have already succumbed to decay and dereliction followed by demolition or conversion to other use, such as housing. A number of mills have already been restored by caring owners. The Norfolk Windmills Trust has conserved many windmills and also restored the Corn Mills at Billingford and Denver plus the waterwheel powered sawmill at Gunton Park to full working order. Other owners have restored their mills to either a high state of completeness or turnable order.

Future

There is an ongoing programme of mill restoration works throughout Norfolk: Three watermills and two windmills are currently in working order. The restoration and maintenance of traditional mills to full working order is becoming harder to achieve in these times, partly due to the age of the structures and machinery but also due the modern safety and hygiene requirements and the difficulty in finding specialist builders to carry out the work.