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Summary

Handsome three storey red sandstone building with two storey mill house attached. The waterwheel and machinery is complete. The mill has been restored and now works with aid of electric motor due to low level of river Clyst. Possibly on or near site of mill recorded at Clystona in Domesday.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1170492: CLYSTON MILL AND ATTACHED MILLER'S HOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX99NE/39
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATERMILL (Early Medieval to XXI - 1066 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Corn and barley mill. Building has three storeys, is of old red sandstone with slate roof. Wooden undershot wheel, 3ft by 15ft. Open paddles. By-pass water supply. Machinery complete but not working.

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

Visited 1965. Mill complete. List annotated by W. Minchinton in 1982 as 'no longer complete'.

Griffith, F. M., 1983, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV339059.

Millhouse in use as a dwelling. Some deterioration visible. Still a handsome building.

National Trust, 1988, Killerton Estate Building Survey (Report - Survey). SDV338119.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 3 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Other details: No 8.

Fisher, J., 1999, East Devon Conservation Area Appraisals: Broadclyst, 6 (Report - non-specific). SDV346253.

The present 18th century Clyston Mill with miller's house and undershot waterwheel are probably on a much older site. Other details: Map.

National Trust, 2000, Killerton Estate Archaeological Survey. Part 3. The Cottages and Broadclyst, 222 (Report - Survey). SDV128325.

Most of the mill machinery survives as well as the building which served the small farm attached to the mill. The mill is of three storeys with half-hipped slate roof and the house is of two storeys also under a half hipped slate roof. Clyston Mill is probably on the site of the mill recorded at Clystona in Domesday.

Bodman, M., 2003, Watermills and Other Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 20-21 (Report - Interim). SDV325576.

Described in an advert of 1808 as 'all those capital water grist and flour mills' with 'three pairs of stones, a bolting mill, and a wire machine'. Steam engine installed c1859. Used for grinding corn until 1935 and for pumping water for another 10 years. Powered by water from the river Clyst. Waterwheel by Taylor and Bodley. Restored and opened to the public in 2002. Machinery turned by electric motor. A mill worth 20s was recorded at Clystona in Domesday Book. In Elizabethan times there were 'twoe water griste miles and one olde Mille House' in Broadclyst and in 1661 the manor of Cliston had three mills. An indenture of 1791 refers to 2 grist mills. Seems likely that Clyston Mill was rebult in first decade of 19th century. Both water and windmill were leased by Samuel Flood in 1806. By 1859 the mill was not working for about one third of the year due to low water and a steam engine was installed. Fire in 1862 ruined dwelling house and damaged mill building.

Watts, S., 2004, Tour Notes compiled for the Mills Section, SPAB, Weekend Mill Tour, Devon, 2-5 September 2004, 9-10 (Un-published). SDV323972.

Clyston Mill is a handsome three storey building with the mill house attached. Probably of late 18th century date, although it has been raised and extended at some time. Its close proximity to the church and manor house suggests it occupies an ancient site, perhaps on or near the mill recorded in Domesday. Mill supplied with water direct from the river Clyst but suffers from low water levels. This appears to be a long standing problem as in the 1850s the miller went to London to be a steam engine as he was unable to work the mill for several months of the year. Mill recently fitted with an electric motor as part of the National Trust's restoratikon programme. The mill is a good example of a late 18th, early 19th century corn mill with a low breastshot wheel driving 3 pairs of stones through spurwheel gearing. The present machinery, however, is nicely typical of the mid 19th century and was probably installed at the same time as the steam engine or after the fire in 1862. The waterwheel is later, 14ft 7in diameter by 4ft 10in wide and bears the name and date TAYLOR & BODLEY EXETER 1880.

Ordnance Survey, 2020, MasterMap 2020 (Cartographic). SDV363413.

Clyston Mill marked.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1170492 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

Clyston Mill and attached miller's house. Late C18. Red sandstone rubble. The undershot iron wheel with timber paddles largely intact under weather-boarded shelter. Internal floors and divisions survive complete, but some of the mill gear removed to Cotehele, Cornwall. Clyston Mill is probably on the site of the mill recorded in Domesday Book. The earliest recorded mention of Broadclyst is as Gliston or Cliston.
See listing description for full details.
Date first listed: 20th May 1985

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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