Lion Mill / Clark and Butcher’s / Soham Mills

History of the Lion Mill

1864 Alfred Clark bought the watermill

1870 Joined by Herbert Butcher

Lion Mill in Soham was run by Clark and Butcher, then the Clark family. It was the largest employer in Soham. Mill used barges to send flour to Ely.

Slubbing out the lode near the mill c.1900

Clark and Butcher’s mill Soham c1870?

Alfred Clark with wife Adelaide in Benz, 1898

The pohoto shows Alfred Clarke, founde of Clark and Butcher’s mill, with his second wife, Adelaide née Butcher. They were married in 1877. The car, a Benz ‘comfortable’ motor car, was bought in 1898 and was the first car in Soham. He would give rides occasionally to raise funds for the congregational church.

1945 old mill destroyed by fire

Mill was rebuilt as the Lion Mill. The old granary of Clark and Butcher’s mill was known as the ‘flint.’ It had originally been a maltings but was gutted in the late 1920s and wheat silos were installed.