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Summary

Late 17C windmill whose stump survives

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1207688: WINDMILL TOWER TO NORTH EAST OF THE SHIRE AT SX 9091 6565

Other References/Statuses

• Torbay HER: MTO9541

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WINDMILL (XVII to Unknown - 1673 AD)

Full description

Torbay HER record (SMR record). SDV361984.

Yaddon Down Windmill - giving the name to Windmill Hill - survives as a stump in the garden of 44 Audley Avenue, Torquay where it is used as a garden store. Built of limestone the remains are 30ft (9m) high x 14ft 6ins (4.5m) internal diameter.

First recorded in a deed dated 13 March 1673 when Lord Londonderry granted a 21 year lease to one James Walters on the condition that he erected "a sufficent and commodious windmill" with 2 stones: 1 for wheat, 1 for barley - "on Yaddon Hill Down or Common at any place where it is fit and convenient, situate, lying and being in the parish of Tormohun, near the village called Upton". The mill itself was leased in 1694 to a miller from Chagford. [1][2][3][4]

The mill was painted by the rev J B Swete in 1801 (original DRO, 564M/F2/93). [5] In 1808 the lease for the sale of the mill included a 'newly built' dwelling house, whose location is uncertain. [6]. The deeds of 1673 and 1694 are discussed with reference to anglo-saxon placename evidence in Watkin and extracts appear in Ellis [7][8]

<1> Minchinton, W., 1968-70, Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries, p..81 (Article in Serial). SDV362255.

X

<2> Minchinton, W. & Parsons, S., 1971-3, Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, p.107,109 (Article in Serial). SDV362421.

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<3> Minchinton, W., 1973, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, p.3 (Monograph). SDV362710.

X

<4> Minchinton, W., 1977, Windmills of Devon, p.34-5; plan (Monograph). SDV362573.

X

<5> Gray, T. (ed), 1997, Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, p. 80 (Monograph). SDV362298.

X

<6> Douch, H.L., 1968-70, Devon and Cornwall Notes & Queries, p.59 (Article in Serial). SDV362516.

X

<7> Watkin, H.R., 1920-21, Devon and Cornwall Notes & Queries, p. 263 (Article in Serial). SDV362584.

X

<8> Ellis, A.C., 1930, Historical Survey of Torquay, p. 267 (Monograph). SDV362462.

X

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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