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Summary

Mill dated 1867 and used under water power until 1930, when a gas engine was installed. Last used as a mill in 1940. In use as a store room by 1994.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1309124: BEAFORD MILL AND ADJOINING LEAT RETAINING WALLS AND BRIDGE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS51SW/42
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATERMILL (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

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

'Corn Mill' at 'Beaford Mill' marked on 1880s-1890s 25 inch Ordnance Survey map, comprising irregular group of four or more adjoining buildings adjacent to the 'Mill Leat'. Mill also shown on 1906 and 1964 6 inch maps.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 41NW (Cartographic). SDV15837.

Ordnance Survey, 1964, SS51SW (Cartographic). SDV339735.

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

Mill in present use as ?dwelling. Building has three-storeys, is of stone with slate roof, is in good condition. Has an undershot wheel 16ft by 7ft, open paddles, derelict. By pass water course. Weir destroyed. Much machinery remains. House listed Grade III.

Bray, M. P., 1985, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV15836.

Nineteenth century photographs of Beaford Mill working are on display in Otterton Mill, East Devon.

Department of Environment, 1989, Beaford (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV321165.

Beaford Mill and adjoining leat, retaining walls and bridge.
Mill dated 1867; enlarged later in the C19. Snecked squared stone with dressed quoins and voussoirs. Gable-ended Welsh-slate roof.
Plan: Mill aligned approximately north-west/south-east. South-east block dated 1867, extended to north-east in the later C19. Formerly with undershot external waterwheel (waterwheel and its separate roof since removed) to south-west side of 1867 block. Leat retaining walls and small bridge also adjoining to south-west.
Mill of 2 storeys and loft with additiion of one-storey and loft.
Exterior: South-west (leat) side largely windowless, but has central first-floor 3-light window to centre (blocked window below) and first-floor doorway to its left. Right-hand gable end has small one-light attic window, first-floor C19 two-light wooden casement and ground-floor 2-light opening. Datestone below attic window. Left-hand gable end has 2-light wooden casement to loft and ground-floor pair of large boarded double doors with wooden lintel and segmental-pointed stone relieving arch. Rear of right-hand block has louvred attic window to left and first-floor boarded door with wooden frame, and approached by external brick steps. Boarded ground-floor boarded door below steps.
Leat retaining walls adjoining to south-west. Squared and coursed stone walls.
Small round-arched bridge over leat with dressed voussoirs and cobbled decking.
Interior of mill: Two pairs of boxed millstones in first floor of right-hand block, with old hoist for lifting stones. Various grain shutes and trap doors. Complete wooden sack hoist in attic (formerly powered by take off from main drive) with wooden pulley wheel and wooden drum with chain. Three-bay roof over 1867 end with bolted collar trusses and pairs of purlins. Four-bay roof over later C19 end, with collar trusses. Also old hoist in later end.
The mill and adjoining leat walls form part of a mill complex also including Beaford Mill House. Other details: LBS 91623.

University of the Third Age, 1995, Watermills in North Devon 1994, 11 (Monograph). SDV74915.

There is now no wheel. The mill is used as a store room. It was used under water power up to 1930, when a gas engine was installed and was last used as a mill in 1940. Two stones and the leat still exist.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 43 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Beaford Mill on the River Torridge. Other details: No 31.

Bodman, M., 2003, Watermills and Other Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 300 (Report - Interim). SDV325576.

Reference to William Snell, miller and maltster at Beaford Mills in directories of 1857 and 1878. In 1999 there were still three pairs of stones surviving on the mill floor and part of the sack hoist mechanism. The main machinery has been stripped out. Mill has datestone of 1867 on its south wall. An adjoining building may have been the malt store.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV1101 - Unnamed Event

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