Third Annual Broads Society Lecture: Drainage Mills in the Broads - Icons in a Threatened Landscape

Dr Andrew Tullett takes the stage at The Auditorium on Thursday 22 October for the Third Annual Broads Society Lecture, Drainage Mills in the Broads - Icons in a Threatened Landscape. It's a talk that looks at one of the most recognisable sights of the Norfolk Broads and asks what happens when those sights stop working.

About 70 drainage mills still stand across the Broads, but they're all redundant now. Electric pumps have taken over the job of controlling water levels, and without a practical use, many of the mills are falling into decay. Tullett's lecture puts that in plain sight: should these iconic features be protected at all costs, or is it time to let them fade away? It's a question that sits right at the heart of how we treat the landscape, and it's one that doesn't have an easy answer.

Beyond the buildings themselves, the talk looks at the people who created the Broads in the first place. The mills are a physical record of that work, and Tullett uses them to tell the stories of the people who shaped the region. If you've spent any time out on the water or walking the banks, you've seen these mills—they're part of the scenery we take for granted, and this is a chance to hear the history behind them.

The lecture runs from 19:30 to 21:00 at The Auditorium, inside The Forum on Millennium Plain (NR2 1TF). Tickets are £5.00 for Broads Society members and £7.00 for general admission, and sales close at 18:00 on 21 October, the day before the event.