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There once used to be two towermills in the mill yard at Cawston Sygate, built in 1853 by John Shepheard Hickling. The slightly smaller Black Mill (so called because it had black tarred cap) was used as a saw mill but at some stage it was used for grinding wheat to flour which was dressed in the adjoining White Mill > Link. The White Mill was 5 storeys high and had a white cap. The mill is described as being derelict in 1923 and the Black Mill was demolished in 1955. The White Mill has since lost several storeys and now serves as a private residence. Link

It is believed that a misguided surveyor working on the first 1-inch maps of this area decided to rename the hamlet "Southgate", as it appears on Ordnance Survey maps to this day. The original name, which is mentioned in an ancient inscription on the Plough Gallery in St Agnes' church, and by which the area is still known locally, is Sygate.