Ebridge Mill, Norfolk

Ebridge Mill was also sometimes known as North Walsham Mill. The old mill was 5 storeys high and built of red brick with a slate roof.

Here’s the earliest photo of it that I’ve found from 1910:


The mill remained in the ownership of the family within Cubbitt & Walker Ltd from 1869 - 1998 when it was sold to Duffields and subsequently closed.

When the goodwill of the flour milling business was sold to the Millers' Mutual Association in 1966, the milling machinery was broken up leaving the old mill as an ancillary to the new provender mill built alongside.

1940: With a chimney:



The earliest record of the mill was on the 1834 Ordinance Survey map.

Then it appeared on the 1841 Census, when 14 people listed it as their place or work, or residence:
“William Partridge snr (75) miller.
Ann Partridge (60)
Hannah Partridge (48)
Mary Cutting (18) servant
Charlotte Howell (or Harwell) (17) servant
William Hancock (22) journeyman miller
George Youngman (20) journeyman miller
William Partridge jnr (45) miller.
Mary Partridge (40)
Richard Pygall (35) journeyman miller
Elizabeth Pygall (30)
Elizabeth Pygall (7)
John Pygall (4)
Mary Pygall (1)”

It was sold the next year, the county records state:
Tithe Award 1842
Map, James WRIGHT, Land Surveyor, Aylsham. 1841
Owner: William PARTRIDGE (of Ebridge Mill, North Walsham)
Occupier: William PARTRIDGE (of Ebridge Mill, North Walsham)
No. 259: Wind Mill Hill & Premises. Pasture”

Sold for : £9. 18s. 0d

1950: No Chimney:


During the 1800s Ebridge mill was worked in conjunction with the nearby Ebridge towermill on Mill Hill .
The tower mill was producing flour rather than animal feed as it was driving 2 pairs of French burr stones.

It did have a water wheel, but this hasn’t been used since 1930, and was eventually removed in 1972.

Right now we’re in the present, lets go in. I think this is my entrance:








Endless switches:




I quickly make my way up five stories up timber ladders up to the roofspace:




When I was on the ground I saw a couple of dodgy gantries up at the top level which I wanted to check out. The first being this small crossing between roofspaces:


I remind myself not to look down, then look down:


There was also a small balcony, two stories above the sign:


Again I force myself to look down, the grating groans below me:


I decide that the internal timber floors feel slightly safer than being out here and head back in to expliore the rest of the mill:






The building with the sign on is purely to house silos:


Silo stock taking


Beautifully decaying outbuilding. No graf, all natural, just the way it should be:




I leave the mill, remembering how it must have been in its heyday:

1915:


And today:


Even the architecture of the new, bigger building perfectly mimics that of the original mill. Perfect.

Historical Photographs courtesy of:
http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/ebridge.html