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Summary

Town Mill with adjoining millers house is probably 17th century or earlier in date with subsequent alterations. The mill was house converted in 1996 but most of the machinery remains intact including an overshot waterwheel.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1106946: MANOR MILL

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS92SE/41
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATERMILL (XI to XXI - 1001 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

Swete, R. J. (Revd), 1792-1801, 564M 'Picturesque Sketches of Devon' by Reverend John Swete, 564M/20/133,138 (Record Office Collection). SDV337942.

Illustration by Swete of Bampton Mill. Described by him as an overshot grist mill.

Mcmanamon, T., 19/04/1993, Bampton Town Mills (Correspondence). SDV336860.

In 1694 there were three mills on the site of Town Mill.

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

Corn and barley mill of Domesday period. Has an overshot wheel, 15ft by 2ft. Launder and leat still in existence. Other details: Site visit c1973.

Department of Environment, 1987, Bampton, 32 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV54005.

Corn and barley mill, (disused at time of survey) and miller's house. 17th century or earlier origins with subsequent alterations. Stone rubble with remains of limewash; asbestos slate roof to house, gabled at ends with projecting right end stack and rear lateral stack, with stone shafts; corrugated iron roof to mill building, gabled at ends.
Plan: single depth miller's house, three rooms wide with a central entrance into a passage, the left end of the house with a higher roofline, single-storey rear lean-to, two storey storage and stable block at right angles to the house forms an L-plan. The mill building is parallel to the house at the rear with a narrow yard between the two blocks and an overshot water wheel on the rear wall. The leat, no longer in use, ran in a timber launder and then turned in a curve to run below the left end of the miller's house and the storage and stable wing.
Exterior: Two storey house, the front elevation three windows wide with regular fenestration and a higher roofline at the left end which is slightly set forward. Approx central front door with lattice porch and 19th century two-pane sashes with margin glazing. A two-storey lean-to at the right end links the house to the mill building. The storage and stable block has large double doors at the left, three doorways to the right, two windows and a loft entrance. The left gable end of the house has a loft doorway in the attic storey, a first floor sash and a ground floor casement. The overshot water wheel with timber buckets survives, as does the rather decayed timber launder.
Interior: the right hand room has a chamfered, scroll-stopped axial beam, exposed joists and an altered open fireplace. The room to the left of the passage has a probably re-sited chamfered cross beam with a scroll nick stop. Considerable survival of machinery in the mill building which has pegged roof trusses. Group value with the retreat and millhead cottage.

Exeter Archaeology, 1996, Archaeological Assessment of a Proposed River Flood Alleviation Scheme at Bampton, 5, 8 (Report - Assessment). SDV336861.

An overshot wheel, the leat and launder were surviving in 2002. A mill at Bampton is listed in Domesday.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 15.76 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Town or Manor Mill on River Batherm.

Bodman, M., 2003, Watermills and Other Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 138 (Report - Interim). SDV325576.

Described in 1857 at 'Town Flour and Grist Mills' including a dwelling house, mill house and bakehouse with stables, water meadow and orchard. The mill was converted into a dwelling in 1996. The overshot waterwheel survives.

Watts, S., 2005, Town Mill, Bampton (Personal Comment). SDV337003.

Mill now house converted but machinery and hurst frame remain on ground floor with the millstones on the first floor, although the stone furniture has now gone. The sack hoist has apparently also now gone from the loft. Outside is the remains of the launder and an overshot waterwheel. The wheel, which is 12ft 6in diameter, has the name, C DAVEY & SONS 1910, cast on the shroud.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4105 - Archaeological Assessment of a Proposed River Flood Alleviation Scheme at Bampton

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