In 1820 Thurne Mill was built by local millwrights England & Co. of Ludham. Its job in life was to drain the marshes for the farmers to make good use of this valuable land.

The mill would originally have been as tall as the black band shown in this photographs and would have driven a scoop wheel with cloth covered sails known as common sails. In 1885 the mill was raised or ‘hained’ as it is called in Norfolk.

This haining was required in order to fit the new style patent sails which had much more power and could be operated by standing on the ground and pulling on the chain in order to open or close the shutters. The fantail was put on at this time too and this enabled the mill to turn automatically into the wind.

I went with my good friend Steve Stain and met up with Andrew Banner, a local to the area with very valuable knowledge of the locations visited.

From a previous visit

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