Between 1775 and 1792, a
post mill was sited close to a gravel pit (now a fishing
pond) on Beverley Road. The miller's name was John Hebb.
It is recorded that John Hebb had a dispute with his
neighbour, who retaliated by planting a row of trees which
eventually grew and disrupted the wind-flow to the mill. Not
to be outdone, John Hebb bought the highest piece of land
available in the village at the time (on Hornsea Road),
and built a tower mill there. Apparently this mill, known as
'Hebb New Mill' was built in 1847.
Around the mid 1940's a lightning bolt
struck the mill, causing a fire that gutted the structure. It
was never rebuilt, and the base still remains today, still
bearing the scar where the lightning strike went to ground.
Hebb New Mill |
Around 1800 a tower mill was built
on the opposite side of Beverley Road to the Post Mill,
nearer to Canal Head. This mill was apparently worked by
William Cook, but no accurate date is known.
Later still, around 1893, two mills
were known to have existed in the village. One would
have been Hebb Mill, then known as Leven New Mill', by
then converted to wind & steam power, and the other
would probably have been Wright's Mill, also wind and
steam driven, which was sited in what is now the Mill
Drive/Barley Gate area of the village, Edward Armytage
Wright being the miller/farmer.
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It is unclear what happened to the tower
mill near to Canal Head (run by William Cook), or when
Wright's Mill was originally built, but apparently, due to its
bad state of repair, it was demolished in the early 1920's.
a conflicting article has come to light
in recent years, and goes something like this...
"before
crossing Bowlam Dyke by Mill Bridge" (South
Street),
"set back from the road on the right, Old Mill House, the
home of George Hollders, a farmer [assumed
to be the site of the old post mill] Next
on the left, the windmill of Mr William Cook and his wife
Elizabeth, one of three corn mills in the village. from Mr
Cook's mill [opposite Nursery
Walk] the
mill of George Agar, set back from High Stile, [assumed
to be Wright's Mill]
and the new mill of
Blackie Stevenson and his wife Elizabeth on Spruce Road (on
top of the hill between the end of East Street and the new
bypass) [assumed to be
Hebb New Mill] would
clearly be seen"
There is no accurate date to which this article refers,
only "about 150 years ago"
1851
Map of Leven
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