Old Windmills and Colman's Mustard

Discovered this afternoon that our Reuben's 3rd Gt Grandfather owned the biggest Mill in England so he did...not only that but one of his daughters married into the Colman family...the mustard people. It was always said that the Colman's made their fortune from what was left on peoples plates...

In the days when you put a Mustard spoonful of Mustard on the side of your plate to eat with roast beef or fat sausages.

Mother had a little silver Mustard pot with a blue glass lining and a tiny spoon...wonder what happened to that.

Anyway I found Reuben's 3rd Gt Grandfather and looked on the net and there were some lovely pictures of the Mill...it started off just grinding wheat for flour...but at almost the end of its life...when it'd been converted to coal...who'd have thought of a windmill working by coal...it was grinding all manner of goods...peas and beans and such-like to be used in cattle food.

When it was still wind-powered by its sails, the villagers used to take their bread dough to be baked in the ovens...it was that this point in the narrative that I became quite lost and confused actually...if it was powered by wind, how could you bake bread in the ovens...

Anyway it was sold eventually and fell into a state of disrepair...more so after the sails were struck by lightning and the top went afire.

An Indian Prince bought it...quite what an Indian Prince was doing living in the back of beyond in a small Norfolk village is anyone's guess...then it was left empty for ages before being 'restored', that word makes me shudder...now it's open to the public on a Sunday afternoon. The Granary has been converted into apartments...no-one lives in a flat anymore...it's apartments now.

Those small villages must have been a hive of activity once...that Mill was one of six within the village itself...there was a castle and a big estate which employed many of the locals...'pubs and churches of every denomination...shops that sold boots and shoes...grocers and greengrocers...tailors and cobblers.

In much the same way our little street has shrunk over the years as has our town...not much more than a village now but it was once a thriving place with many shops and a big department store...now we have some 'pubs still open for business and a scattering of shops...but it's mostly hairdressers and nail bars now. The supermarket dominates as does the pharmacy...

Reuben and Teresa are coming to stay at the beginning of October...better get some Colmans mustard in.

[mmzetor]

Though you might find this interesting and Im sure you or himself know the area the indian prince could have been this mans relation en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulee...

[Hidden in reply to mmzetor]

That was really interesting...but it didn't mention the Mill...that was in Old Buckenham which isn't far from Diss...

Thank you for the link...he had a strange sort of life didn't he...for an Indian Prince I mean...lol

[mmzetor in reply to Hidden]

I love history like that and the reason why they have a statue of an Indian prince in thetford .I should have put another link on which says in April 1900 his second son prince Fredrick duleep singh bought the mill norfolkmills.co.uk/Windmill...

[mmzetor]

its a bit of a long article but when you get near the end you will see what I mean

[Nikkers]

I live in a small village and we have a beautifully restored windmill atop the hill. There's another just a few miles away in another village, and that one's granary has been turned into shops, mostly selling "country" stuff....natural wood furniture, fruits and veg from local farmers etc., I think they look very majestic and are an important link with our past. XX

[hufferpuffer]

I love mills and have visited quite a few back in the day when I made bread often . There is a water mill on the island its a lovely place to visit , lots of unusual ducks, geese and chickens and shop and cafe.

I'll never look at Colmans mustard the same way again! 😁