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Summary

Formerly known as Teape Mill, Hele paper mill is known to have been in operation in 1762. A number of datestones are built into the fabric of the mill buildings, one with the date of 1666. There was a corn mill at Hele in the medieval period and it is suggested that this may be the site of the mill of Bernardsmore recorded in Domesday Book of 1086. The paper mill, now Devon Valley Mill, is still in operation

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS90SE/16
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS90SE12

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PAPER MILL (First mentioned, XVIII - 1762 AD to 1762 AD)

Full description

Unattributed Sites and Monuments Register Entry (Unattributed Sites and Monuments Register Entry). SDV263.

Teape Mill was established in 1762.

Croslegh, C., 1911, History of Bradninch, 309-314 (Monograph). SDV35059.

Detailed history of the mill and its owners given. Drawings of mill as it was in 1822 and 1907.

Shorter, A. H., 1938 - 1939, Paper Mills in Devon, 35 (Article in Serial). SDV85082.

Shorter, A. H., 1947-1949, Paper Mills in Devon and Cornwall, 101-102 (Article in Serial). SDV85084.

Shorter, A. H., 1950, The Historical Geography of the Paper Making Industry in Devon, 1684-1950, 201, 211 (Article in Serial). SDV122239.

Also known as Hele Mill. Known to have been in operation in 1762 and still going in 1950. A paper making machine was in use. One of the few mills in Devon which produced white paper for writing or printing, as opposed to the coarse wrapping papers produced by most mills in the county.

Minchinton, W., 1973, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 19 (Monograph). SDV362710.

Devon County Council, 1974, Survey of Watermills in Devon: Gazetteer, Gazetteer (Report - Survey). SDV83967.

Originally a corn mill but later it became paper mill. Paper mill producing 130 tons per week. Mill leat drives the turbines.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SS90SE12 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV35055.

Wiggins Teape paper mill was established in 1762.

Griffith, F. M., 1991, DAP/UF, 1-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV57442.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 6.8 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Watts, M., 2013, Devon Valley Mill, Hele, Bradninch, Devon: Historic Building Evaluation of Former Office Building, 2 (Report - Survey). SDV352669.

A number of date stones are built into the fabric of the mill buildings, mostly dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rebuilt into a stone wall in one of the workshops backing on to Strathculm Road, behind the former dwelling house, is a stone inscribed 'W T W 1666'
This is presumed to have been moved from an earlier building somewhere on the site and indicates activity here at least a century before paper-making commenced.

Bodman, M., 2016, Water Mills and other Water-powered Sites in Devon. Revised edition, 68-69 (Report - non-specific). SDV359634.

Summaries from various articles, journals and directories given.

Watts, M., 2016, Water Power in the Lower Culm valley, 233 (Article in Serial). SDV363576.

There is a record of millstones being brought to Hele Mill in 1391. The site is suggested to be a candidate for the mill of Bernardsmore recorded in Domesday Book of 1086, and which was located between Silverton and Bradninch.

Ordnance Survey, 2023, Mastermap 2023 (Cartographic). SDV365227.

Now known as Devon Valley Mill.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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