Wenhaston Archive Project History Notes

History Note No.9: Mills

History Note No.9: Mills
Mills and Millers - from the Domesday Book to present times

In the Domesday Book of 1086 it states that Wenhaston possessed a Mill. This, of course, was a water mill as windmills did not appear till 1200. This watermill was on the river Blyth, probably near the present one at Watermill Farm. The later one was built around 1790 and believe me it had a windmill built on top!

There were mills in the village many years ago as in a Record Book at the Record Office there is mention of John Payne, Miller of Wenhaston and in the Sibton Charters in 1240 a lawsuit by Margaret, daughter of Adam of Wenhaston, Miller.

In 1623 John Hayle, a miller of Wenhaston bought Pynnowes on Middleton Moor, which his widow sold in 1703 for £190. Among the burials in Wenhaston in 1554 was Dennis Browne, miller and in the List of Communicants of 1555 William Perason and William Colman, millers and Robert Head, Watermill.

Within people"s memory there were two windmills in the village. On Blackheath there was a mill at Millhouse on the Heath, south of Blackheath Road which still has the base of the roundhouse in the garden. It was built before 1793 but demolished in 1896. The other mill is Kitty Mill at the end of Wash Lane off Back Road. It was thought it was built in the 18th century, but the roundhouse built later has a plaque dated 1851.