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Summary

Hudley Mill, Charles, worked as a corn mill from at least the early 17th century to about 1920. A salvaged iron waterwheel was installed in the 1940s to drive a generator for producing electricity for the mill cottage. The waterwheel and generator were last used in about 1987. The waterwheel has now been restored.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Mill buildings, millpond and mill leat marked on Ordnance Survey 1880s - 1890s at Hudley Mill

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS63SE/44
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CORN MILL (First mentioned, XVII - 1601 AD to 1700 AD (Between))
• WATERMILL (First mentioned, XVII - 1601 AD to 1700 AD (Between))
• GENERATOR HOUSE (First mentioned, XX - 1901 AD to 2000 AD (Between))

Full description

Unknown, Unknown (Migrated Record). SDV1416.

Hudley mill. Hudley mill mentioned in a lease of 1648 (dro).

WATERMILLS, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV18616.

Vis=est -/-/1994 (watermills) the pond has been cleared and restored; the leat also has been cleared and is running (watermills).

OS MAP, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71675.

Shown as cornmill on 1891 os map. Served by leat + millpond (os map).

1963, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71676.

'hudley mill' shown on os 6" (1905) map and os 6" (1963) map.

NDAS, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV71677.

Vis=1974 (ndas) the ovbershot water wheel, which came from low hall, high bray, is constructed of cast iron with wooden buckets. It is 12ft in diameter by 3ft wide and in fair condition. The machinery has gone, apart from one millstone in site. There is a dynamo. The mill was served by a leat and mill pond, with water being taken from thorne water. There is believed to be a lease of 1648 which refers to this site. The mill was last working in about 1930 (ndas).

NDAS, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV71678.

Vis=1989 (ndas) the dynamo is now disused (ndas).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71680.

Dro=1148 m/add/2/l11/5/(1648).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71681.

Gover, j. E. B. + mawer, a. + stenton, f. M. /the place-names of devon/(1931)62.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71682.

Des=os 6"(1891).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71683.

Des=os 6"(1905)14ne.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71684.

Des=os 6"(1963).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71685.

Ndas/north devon watermills/(1989)43.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV71686.

Watermills in north devon 1994(1995)61/in smr.

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

Hudley Mill (Corn) marked.

Gover, J. E. B. + Mawer, A. + Stenton, F. M., 1931, The Place-Names of Devon: Part One (Monograph). SDV1312.

First documentary reference to hudley (not the mill) is in 1306 (mawer et al).

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

Watts, S., 23/10/2013, Hudley Mill, Charles (Personal Comment). SDV352690.

The waterwheel has now been restored.

Watts, M., July 2010, Hudley Mill, Charles, Devon. Repair and Management Plan for the Waterwheel, Leat and Mill Pond (Report - Survey). SDV352689.

Hudley Mill, Charles, worked as a corn mill from at least the early 17th century. There is an indirect reference to a mill in the parish in 1601 and Hudley Mill itself is referred to in a document of 1617. It is referred to in a document of 1732 as 'the Water-Grist Mills called Hudley Mills' and is described in an aution sale notice in 1878 as '…a water grist mill, having a good stream of water, with an overshot water wheel driving two pairs of stones…'. It appears that the mill stopped working in the 1920s or 1930s. Presumably the waterwheel was removed or was decayed beyond repair for a salvaged iron waterwheel was installed in the 1940s to drive a generator for producing electricity for the mill cottage. The waterwheel and generator were last used in about 1987. The waterwheel is at present in a decayed state and the leat and mill pond which supplied it with water are silted and overgrown.
The mill building is rectangular on plan with its south-east wall fronting the road and the wheelpit and waterwheel on the north-west side. It is two storeys high with a loft, built of random coursed rubble stone with brick dressings under a slate roof. The ground floor of the mill is divided off at its downstream end by a rubble stone cross wall, each area now entered by its own door. The hurst frame and corn milling machinery have gone and there are cast in situ concrete bases that support the drive from the waterwheel and the generator. The only suviving evidence for corn milling is a timber sack hoist drum and belt pulley in the roof space and the sack traps in the floors. There are also several displaced millstones on the site. The document of 1732 referrs to water grist mills which implies more than one set of millstones or possibly more than one waterwheel. The proportions of the mill builidng on plan, the visible breaks in the masonry of the wheelpit wall including a possible former opening for the shaft of a second waterwheel suggest that the mill may have had at one time two overshot waterwheels in line, a once familiar arrangement in Devon [each probably driving one pair of stones]. By 1878, however, there was just one waterwheel driving two pairs of stones.
The small complex of buildings that comprise Hudley Mill form an importand and unspoilt element in the local landscape, the mill building representing a feature that has been part of that landscape for at least 400 years. The surviving waterwheel and the improvised drive to a generator for electricity before a mains supply was available represents an interesting chapter in the use of water power on this site.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6299 - Survey of Leat, Pond and Waterwheel at Hudley Mill Charles

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