28. GOGGS' MILLNow a picnic area, Hempton Mill was often known as Goggs' Mill, after the formidable Thomas Goggs. He lived in Grove House and owned and worked the mill between 1854 and 1888, using a combination of water and steam to power the machinery. The mill was built of brick and weatherboard with a Norfolk pantile roof.
The mill was about two miles downstream from Sculthorpe Mill and about a mile upstream from Fakenham Mill. This meant that, except in times of maximum river flow, the three mills had to be worked in conjunction. When Sculthorpe opened its wheel sluice and started to use its stored head of water the outflow would head towards Hempton's dam, ready for use there before being passed downstream to Fakenham. In order to maximise the efficient use of the available water supply the millers at each of the mills used a system of smoke signals to warn their colleagues whenever the sluices were operated. The Norfolk Chronicle of
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