Bedford
Duck Mill Lane

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The mill can be traced back to at least the 12th century when Miles de Beauchamp granted it to the monks of Bermondsey Abbey. It remained their property until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. After the dissolution it passed into private hands and was finally demolished in 1890 although the sluices and weir still exist.

The mill was not known as Duck Mill until the late 16th or early 17th century. In the 18th century it was known as Boy and Oar Lane after a public house, which was demolished in the 1840s. The Improvement Commission chose the name Duck Mill Lane in 1835.

Sources

• The Newspaper Cuttings Collection, Local Studies Library, Bedfird Central Library.
• FREEMAN, Ian  From Saxons to Speed :  a new history of old Bedford.  2006

Page last updated: 22nd January 2014