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Summary

Feniton Mill constructed pre 1939 possibly on site of an earlier building. Rectangular building of stone and brick under a gable-ended slate roof with central water channel. Water channel formerly housed two waterwheels. Turbine inserted in 1929 together with electricity generating plant. Mill latterly produced animal feed.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY19NW/50
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum Accession Number: 133/2008

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MILL (Post Medieval to XXI - 1540 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Feniton Mills (Corn)' marked on 1880s-1890s 25 inch Ordnance Survey map as a group of buildings in an irrengular shaped yard with the 'Mill Race' shown to the north.

Department of Environment, 1950, Honiton RD, 24 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV118185.

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

Phillips, M. C. + Wilson, R. E., 1974 - 1977, Water Mills in East Devon, 171-2 (Article in Serial). SDV42946.

Feniton Mill, Fenny Bridges. Stone mill building, roofed with slate. Said to be on site of earlier building. Once housed grist and flour mills. A leat from the river Otter supplied water to power wheel, probably overshot. Built sometime between 1801 and 1839. Most of machinery has gone, replaced, in about 1930 by a turbine and engine which also generated electricity for lighting Feniton Court. The manufacturers, mostly local, of the modern plant are given.

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, 1982, Mills Index (Un-published). SDV12998.

Mill still exists. Mill and millhouse listed grade III.

Horner, B., 1997, DAP/ABW, 5 (Aerial Photograph). SDV338786.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 21 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Feniton Mill on the river Otter. Other details: No 29.

Exeter Archaeology, 2002, Archaeological Assessment of a Proposed Development at Feniton Mill, Feniton, 4 (Report - Assessment). SDV338788.

The mill complex comprises the corn mill, formerly listed grade III, a mill owner's house attached to the western end of the mill, a number of outbuldings, leat, diversion channel and tailrace. Present mill believed to have been built between 1801 and 1839 on site of earlier mill. The leat is shown on Greenwood's Map of Devon of 1825-6. Listed as 'Houses and Mills' (676) on the 1839 Feniton Tithe Map and Apportionment. Turbine and engine latterly installed. These survive, also some of the belt drives and hoppers on ground floor. Western end of mill has been converted into a flat. Mill building due to be renovated and converted to dwelling and workshop.

Watts, M., 2003, Feniton Mill, Feniton, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV338787.

Feniton mill comprises a rectangular plan bulding orientated approx west-east, with two former mill units, one on each side of a central channel. Fomer miller's house at the west end. There was formerly a lean-to single storey extension on the east gable end. Mill built of rubble stone and brick with cement render. Old millstones reused as doorsteps. Slate gable ended roof. There was formerly a brick chimney stack within the west gable end, of which the truncated remains are still visible at west end of loft.
Mill stated to have been rebuilt between 1801 and 1939; the latter date can now be taken back to 1828 when it was offered to let. The comment in the 1828 advertisement that 'the proprietor intends erecting convenient corn lofts' suggests that the raised gallery and grain bins at the east end of the loft were not inserted until after this date. Roller milling plant was installed by the 1890s. The central water channel formerly housed two waterwheels which survived until at least the 1860s, possibly until the installation of a turbine and generating plant in 1929. The turbine, by Armfield & Co Ltd, which also powered various pieces of milling equipment for grinding animal feed, remains in situ but the generator has been removed.

Bodman, M., 2003, Watermills and Other Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 168-9 (Report - Interim). SDV325576.

Documentary references dating back to 1725. Sale notice of 1828 states that there 'are at present in work 3 pairs of stones, and there is ample space for an additional pair'. In 1861 the mill is described as having 4 pairs of stones and 2 waterwheels.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4249 - Feniton Mill
• EDV4250 - Feniton Mill

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