Diss
Rose Lane
towermill

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Diss Rose Lane towermill stood very close to the postmill on the same site. The earlier towermill had been built to supply power to an adjacent coarse yarn spinning factory. After the postmill was blown down in 1834, the buck was mounted on the base of the towermill to form Rose_Lane_composite_mill.

Farther down Victoria Road, in Rose Lane, formerly stood two windmills, both marked on the 1837 Ordnance Survey Map. One, a tower-mill, was built to supply power to a factory spinning coarse yarns, but was later converted and adapted by taking the brickwork down to the third storey, and mounting the body of an old post-mill on top, making for a most unusual structure. It stood on a mound in the yard of Bartrums, and was in the Chaplyn family for generations. The old post-mill had been shattered during a sharp tempest on July 31st 1834, and William Chaplyn, miller, maltster, corn and coal merchant, accordingly decided to combine the two mills into one. This would appear to have worked very successfully , and the business eventually passed to Albert, his grandson, who had the mill pulled down after the First World War. The brickwork remained until demolished by the Lincoln family about 1935, and the mound on which it stood was only removed some two years ago.
Diss Antiquarian Society News Sheet - Spring 1973

Joseph Hodskinson's Suffolk map 1783: Windmill

Pigot's 1830: William Chaplyn, miller, POST MILL

1834: Towermill used to power a cloth factory

31st July 1834: Postmill severely damaged during a storm


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Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2006