Barton Turf smock drainage mill stood on Mill Dyke. The mill was built with common sails but later updated to patent sails to power a turbine. The mill was also known as the Black Mill.

... was burned down in the early 1900s and replaced by a skeleton mill in 1903, where the wooden framework was supported on four brick pillars. The sails were of the modern adjustable vane type powering a turbine pump which ceased working when this mill was set on fire by holidaymakers prior to WWII. The mill wall itself was breached in the '60s, so there is no control over the water level in the marshes around us.
A Jam Round Barton Turf - John Yaxley

1811: Mill built

O. S. Map 1884: Draining Pump

c.1902: Mill destroyed in a fire

1903: Smockmill replaced by a skeleton mill

Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2011