Great Ryburgh Southmylle Mill stood to the west of the site of the later mill and when it was eventually dismantled, possibly in the 1700s, the mill house was built directly over it and the arches of the two waterways were still visible in the cellars.

It is not clear when Southmylle ceased working and the new and larger mill was built.

Southmylle was listed in Domesday, when the mill, which is specifically mentioned, formed part of the Lordship of Reienburgh and belonged to Peter de Valoins and was held by Radulfus Facto.

Before the Norman Conquest Gt. Ryburgh Mill belonged to Guerth (Gurth) brother of King Harold. Binham Priory was founded by de Valoins in about 1120 and Ralph Facto probably then granted the tithes of the mill to the new priory. From Facto the mill passed to the Monpinzun family and in 1434 it passed from Thomas de la Grene to the Prior of Walsingham.

On the Dissolution it passed to Henry VIII, who, on March 10th 1539 granted it to Dr. William Buttes. At the same time Dr. Buttes was granted a pasture called Sennowe and also the avowson. He was a well known physician and one of the founders of the College of Physicians and was even introduced by Shakespeare in King Henry VIII. Via his grand daughter Anne it passed to the Bacon family when she married Nicholas Bacon, eldest son and heir of the great Lord Keeper.

In 1579 it was leased to Simon Mussett, together with the Mill House called 'Southemylle', with all the going gear, one messuage called 'Millies' near the mill, one yard called 'Newsteade Yard' and one parcel of morishe (marsh) land to the east of the mill, for seven years at a yearly rent of £13 6s 8d. The Lessor was bound to grind at the mill. The lessee left an overstone and one netherstone of certain sizes and agreed not to fish in any part of the dam, river or stream that runs to the mill, except that he may take eels and other fish at the 'Owteloades' of the mill or millwheel with shakenets, with a proportion of the eels and fish being given to the lessor.

The mill continued in the Bacon family until the year 1760, when on the death of Mary Bacon who was a spinster, it passed to her nephew Thomas Wodehouse, the youngest son of Sir Armine Wodehouse. In about 1800 the property passed to the Boycott family.

In 1977, Mr. Hayward said that in Elizabethan times it was reputed that the river went under the house where two arches are present. This was confirmed In 1958 when Frank Larkman wrote that there are actually the sites of two water mills standing side by side at Great Ryburgh. Of the earlier of the two mills only the waterways remain but the ground floor of the second mill still stands.

The above map clearly shows the watercourse after it left Southmylle, running east to join the artificial watercourse draining the new mill. This waterourse was eventually filled in to make way for new buildings.

The above map shows the parish boundary that undoubtedly followed the original river course. A new, wide channel was dug running due south and the river then diverted to the west to provide sufficient water volume and fall to power the mill. Two straight channels were also dug below the mill. The southern channel took water from the mill race back to the River Wensum and the northern channel was the bypass, used to control the river level above the mill, especially in times of flood.

1065: Guerth (Gurth) brother of King Harold

1068: Radulfus Facto

1434: Mill passed from Thomas de la Grene to the Prior of Walsingham

10th March 1539: Henry VIII, having gained the mill on the Dissolution, granted it to Dr. Thomas Buttes

1545: Thomas Buttes leased mill to John Warner, miller

1553: John Warner discharged from his lease

1578: Southmylle listed in estate valuation of Thomas Buttes

1579: Mill leased to Simon Mussett

1600s: Bacon family

1964: Property bought by Mr. D. Hayward

2003: Mill House used as old peoples' residential home