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Summary

No longer extant, records suggest there was a fulling, or tucking (woollen) mill here (opposite the older corn mill) from at least the early 17th century. The tucking mill fell into disrepair when it was left vacant sometime in the early 1690s and was demolished around the turn of the century, evidence of which exists in the terms of the lease on a neighbouring property.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77SW/95

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WOOLLEN MILL (XVI to XIX - 1600 AD? to 1880 AD? (Between))

Full description

Greeves, T. A. P., Mills at Bridge, Buckland in the Moor (Personal Comment). SDV311606.

(Churchwardens?) accounts give no clue as to type of mill or its siting.
Copy of the 17th century Churchwarden's accounts and article (by Miss E. Gawne) bears no proof that these accounts refer to this site.

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

(Estimated 1973). Parish and manor mill. Little remains, cottages east of Ruddycleave Waters possibly remains of mills. Apparent leat on Ordnance Survey 6 inch map (1964). 17th century.

Seymour, D. J., 1977, Torre Abbey. An Account of its History, Buildings, Cartularies and Lands, 131 (Monograph). SDV340436.

Ruddycleave Water known as Millebrok in the 13th century.

Belsey, P. M., 1983 - 1987, Buckland In The Moor Parish Checklist (Un-published). SDV345904.

17/11/1984 No obvious sign of any leat.

Brown, M., 1996, A guide to the Parish of Buckland-in-the-Moor, 8, 18-19 (Monograph). SDV361770.

Hamlet of Bridge
There were two mills here, one on either side of the Ruddycleave Brook (formerly the Mill Brook). The earliest, the corn (or grist) mill was established as early as the 13th century. It once stood on the left as you look at the scene. On the opposite bank was a tucking, or fulling mill (a woollen mill) of unknown antiquity; the first mention of which is found in a lease of 1612 when John Stonier took over as tenant, but it may have been in existence long before this time.
Neither of these buildings survives today. The tucking mill fell into disrepair when it was left vacant sometime in the early 1690s and was demolished around the turn of the century, evidence of which exists in the terms of the lease on a neighbouring property. The corn mill was destroyed by fire sometime in the early decades of the 18th century, and at around the same period it is known that one of the cottages also had to be rebuilt (unclear whether the fire began at the cottages, or the mill building).
The grist mill was actually rebuilt in 1741, when George Coneybear took on the lease, financing the repairs including a complete rebuild, together with all the necessary mill equipment and the cutting of a new leat at 'great expense', recorded in his lease records as £30. This building, surviving to this day, may utilise the shell of the previous building, although that was probably gutted, as the accounts of the work undertaken in the rebuilding indicate it was not completely razed to the ground.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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