GOSBERTON POST MILL

Gosberton once had three working mills. The mill which gave its name to Hill Lane was a Post Mill and this was demolished in 1898. It is not absolutely clear when it was built but the deeds in the Archives office show that in 1808 it was bought by Richard Goodwin of Donington from John Bartol and his wife. As photographs show it was a considerable site. The deeds describe the property as one rood of land abutting upon the highway called Boston Gate towards the East & North and another way called Stow lane to the West and lands belonging to the Parsonage of Gosberton to the South. It then describes it as a ‘newly erected’ messuage and tenement with a bakehouse, shop and other buildings and 20 perches of land tying at and on the King’s highway. Another piece or parcel of land containing about three acres abutting the turnpike road leading from Boston to Spalding and on a lane called Mill lane to the South side. By 1813 Goodwin was dead and the property was leased by James Ormond, a farmer and gaaier from Swineshead parish. Goodwin’s will had directed that the mill and land should be sold and there is evidence that James Ormond raised a mortgage for £1000 on the property. By 1817 it was leased to Jonathan Ashwell of Donington and on his death in 1839 to John Popple. The mill had transferred to Richard Brand by 1873 and by 1891 to Charles Freshney. On the 5th January 1897 it was put up for sale at the Red Lion Hotel In Spalding and was bought by Thomas Rawding, brick and he maker for 3,180. Most of the land was sold again during the 1930’s.

The information for this post was taken from “The Gosberton Area A glimpse into the past”