A London businessman of considerable wealth, Edward Frisby Howis, made the greatest contribution to the alteration of the Crowborough landscape, from its then, in 1809, gorse and heathered heathland to the tree-adorned prospect we know today. Of course it was not only trees he provided, Crowborough once had five mill ponds strung along the valley to the north-west of the Beacon, these were all built by Howis; most probably prompted by his having seen the remains of the two previous furnace and hammer ponds just a little further-on down the valley. Howis leased this land on Crowborough Warren from Lord Henniker and built two large watermills, one building still stands and is now known as Old Mill, the other, New Mill, is nothing but a ruin, the stone having been sold to a local firm of masons in the 1960's. It was in this latter mill that the flour for Queen Victoria's wedding cake was ground. Howis appears to have been a very active man and something of an extrovert, making journeys from Crowborough to London, frequently, on horseback and within 3 hours either way; either by these exertions or from some illness he died while only 58 years old in 1830. Howis could be considered as Crowborough's first commercial developer.