Gunton Sawmill

I joined members of our U3A Photo Group this morning at the remote and fascinating Gunton Sawmill.  The Sawmill is powered by a water wheel which takes water from an ornamental lake on the Gunton Park Estate.  It has a beautiful thatched roof and was built c.1824.  It caused a good deal of unrest when it was built as it put many woodmen out of business. It was capable of sawing a whole tree into planks in one go. A job which took woodmen many hours to do.  The local woodsmen protested but were prevented from burning it down by military personnel sent from Norwich to protect it.

It's now run by volunteers and still processes wood from the large (now private) estate.  Most of the wood goes to local artists and woodturners.
It's only open to the public on a few days a year.  More information on their website:
www.guntonparksawmill.co.uk

It was quite challenging photographing it inside as it was extremely dark.

I've put a couple of photos in extra showing the front and rear view (where the water is fed onto the waterwheel).