Norwood's Mill

The Last Days of Norwood’s Mill

Posted on by Gordon Harris

Hundreds of cars use the Ipswich River bridge that connects Mill Rd. in Ipswich to Highland St. in Hamilton without the occupants seeing the three stone arches that they are driving over, but a landmark we’re probably all familiar with is the old mill building on the Hamilton side of the bridge. A grist mill was first constructed on this site in 1697, which processed almost seven thousand bushels of corn each year, but the present structure dates to 1829. Jerome Norwood purchased the property in 1868, and operated a sawmill and cider mill in the building, churning out 2000 gallons of cider annually. He also built a large isinglass factory on the other side of the river which is no longer standing.

The abandoned sawmill was last used in 1919 and will be demolished by the end of February 2024.

Mill Road and the Warner bridge, with Norwood’s Mill on the left. The buildings on the hillside behind it were moved or taken down.
Norwood’s Mill view heading south over Warner’s Bridge on Mill Rd.
View from the south side of the Ipswich River, when the building was used as a sawmill. On the other side is the Isinglass Mill, no longer standing.
Norwood’s Mills also produced fine veneers from the lumber. Photo courtesy of David Thayer
A crew began preparing in February 2024 to demolish the deteriorating Norwood Mills building.
A view of the triple-stone-arch Warner Bridge from the old mill building
A window at Norwood’s Mill

Read more about Warner’s Bridge, the Isinglass Factory, and Norwood’s Mill at the Historic Ipswich site.

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