Monument record FEX 308 - Marriages Mill, Silo and Office

The construction of the Mill was begun in November 1905 and was mostly complete by the beginning of 1907. The original Silo was begun in 1906 and complete by November 1907. The building of the mill and silo marked an escalation of the commercial viability of the port and a realisation that Felixstowe was well positioned to take advantage of trade routes with Europe. Grains were mostly brought to the mill via cargo vessels into the Dock Basin but some was also carried from inland via the rail-link with the Midlands. The majority of the flour was either exported to Europe or shippedaround the British coast.
The Mill and Silo were extensively damaged in 1941 when a Hampden Bomber plane crashed into the eastern side of the complex after hitting a barrage balloon cable. The two areas most badly affected by the crash were the southern half of the Silo, and the ‘Screen’ area at west end of the Mill building. The Mill was out of use for two years but was mostly rebuilt by 1952 (Hadwen et al.1998), with the apparent exception that the uppermost level of the rope race and its roof were never re-instated.
The Marriages Mill Office building stands at the northern end of the Mill and was part of the original complex completed in 1907.
The form and detail of the building as originally conceived, is very much that of a detached villa in a conspicuously domestic style. This might suggest that the original function of the building was both as the mill manager’s house and office, though there is no secure evidence that it was ever anything other than the administrative offices for the Mill.
The building originally stood entirely detached from the main Mill building but has been abutted along its north side by the large 1970s warehouse extension which wraps around the north and east sides of the Mill. The building has been muchaltered in recent years (S1 S2).