The Old Gorrie Mill

The old Gorrie Mill, built in 1856, was a vital hub in Howick Township’s economic development. Gorrie grew up around the old mill located on the Maitland River and, until it was dismantled in 2021, was one of the few remaining relics of the first generation of pioneers who survived by farming the land. Article content

In the winter of 1855-56, Edward and James Leech, enterprising Irish immigrants, “chopped their way through the bush from Molesworth to Gorrie, a distance of 15 miles,” according to a 1956 article in the Wingham Advance Times. They purchased a mill site on the south bank of the Maitland River. Edward Leech was a millwright and immediately erected the Gorrie Mil, harnessing the Maitland’s water power to churn its great stone mill wheels that ground grain into grist and flo