There have been mills in Rosemarket for a least 800 years.  The location of a corn mill and a possible tucking mill have been discovered. 

In the 1330’s, it appears that the Rosemarket fullers were among the pioneers of the development of the woollen industry in Wales.  The last recorded mill was Norton mill, a grain (or grist) mill which was occupied as late as 1946.  The tucking (fulling) mill disappears from the Censuses after 1861.

A brief timeline in the history of the mills

• The earliest reference is 1148, when “Richard son of Tankard granted Rosemarket Village including the church mill and lands to the Knights Hospitallers “.
• In 1338 the Knights of St John of Jerusalem had two mills at Rosemarket – one grist mill and one tucking mill. The fulling mill was worth £2 and was used for finishing woollen cloth.  Fulling mills were associated with the large-scale settlement of the Flemings in Pembrokeshire in the 1330’s. 
• It was stated in the Court of Augmentations in 1548, that John Jurden of Jurdeston was responsible for “the ruiness state of the mill due a to lack of turves for repair and the diversion of water”.
• In 1581-1582 the infamous Morys Walter “intruded on the tucking mill” (fulling mill) and “Inclosed land adjoining said tucking mill as part and parcel of his owne”. Walter seized the Queen’s (Elizabeth I) tucking mill and built his own Honeybrook mill within one flight (the distance an arrow could be shot) of the Royal Mill and dammed the “lake” upstream so that it no longer turned the old mill but flowed freely past his own mill.  Rosemarket citizens had no choice but to use the new mill.
• 1861 was the last record of a tucking mill existing in Rosemarket.
• In the 1770’s, there was a complaint regarding Rosemarket mill by a tenant (Mrs Evans of Haverfordwest) that she was in arrears for £2 a year for 65 years and had to pay the arrears from long before her tenancy.
• 1946 was the last Electoral Roll reference to a resident at Norton corn mill.