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Summary

Water mill, mid 19th century, two storeys rectangular plan with external wheel on east side. Overshot wheel with iron rim in working order with machinery intact.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1317498: TOWN MILLS MILL

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53SE/340
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 89608

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATERMILL (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

1903, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81772.

Building shown but not marked on os 6" (1903) map.

1975, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81773.

'water wheel' shown on os 6" (1975) map.

DOE, 1986, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81774.

Town mills mill. Water mill, mid 19th century. Stone rubble. Corrugated iron roof with gable ends. Rectangular on plan with external wheel on east side. Two storeys. North gable end has 8-paned window above 2-light casement, 8 panes per light. Plank stable door. Plank doors to each floor. Two 3 light windows. Overshot wheel with iron rim in working order with machinery intact (doe, 1986).

NDAS, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV81776.

Vis=1975 (ndas) landkey town mills (darch's mill or manor mills). The overshot waterwheel is constructed of cast iron with wooden buckets. It is 12ft in diameter and 4ft wide. It is still working. It develops 10hp and at present drives a dynamo. There are two sets of millstones, one for barley and one for maize. The output is five sacks in eight hours. There are also five millstones forming a floor to a shed adjoining the mill. The sack hoist with hatches survives. The mill is three storeys in height and is constructed of stone and roofed with slates. The mill last operated as a flour mill in 1941. The mill house flanks the road. Over the fireplace in the drawing room, on the ground floor, there is a plaque showing the date 1659 and the initials e. H. The north devon journal of 29th january 1852 describes the 'letting' of newland mills (ndas).

NDAS, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV81777.

Vis=1989 (ndas) the darch family took over the mill and bakery in the 1920s and started generating electricity shortly afterwards. They were later connected to the mains supply because the irregular flow of water made it difficult to regulate the power. When the bakery closed, the mill and house were let. The wheel still turns and will be renovated shortly (ndas).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81781.

Des=os 6"(1903)map sheet 13se.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81782.

Des=os 6"(1975)map.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81783.

Doe/hhr:landkey/(18/3/1986)81.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81784.

French, k. /tda/89(1957)131/devonshire plasterwork.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81785.

Ndas/north devon watermills/(1989)44.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81786.

Watermills in north devon 1994/(1995)68/in smr.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV81787.

Des=bodman, m. /water-powered sites in devon/(1998)34 no 46/in smr.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV148.

'landkey town corn mills' shown on os 25" (1880s) map as a group of buildings in a triangular plot with a mill leat to the east (os).

WATERMILLS, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV18616.

Vis=estimated -/-/1994 (watermills) ngr ss595311 the stone wall of the building near the wheel has recently been repaired. New slate sills and lintels have been put round the windows. The roof at present is corrugated iron. The mill and adjoining buildings are nearly derelict. Although not generating electricity, the overshot wheel, which is in reasonable condition, is kept turning to keep the wood from drying out. There is a sluice gate near the wheel. The leat is in good condition.

FRENCH, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV25481.

Darch's mill. Elizabethan patterns on ceilings which persisted into the 17th century. Dated 1659 (french).

Watts, M., 2010, Town Mills, Landkey, Devon: Historic Building Recording, 9-10, 24-28 (Report - Survey). SDV347200.

Historic building recording took place at Town Mills prior to its conversion for domestic accommodation. There is no identifiable fabric of 17th century date in the present mill building, although its plan my reflect an early post-medieval layout. The old bridging timbers, which were found re-used as lintels when the outbuilding was demolished, are from an earlier configuration of mill machinery, however, and may be of 17th century origin. Little remains of the cornmilling machinery, but a typical layout for driving two pairs of millstones through spur gearing is apparent from the remains of the in situ hurst timbers. Town Mills formerly had two overshot wheels in line in the wheelpit on the south side, the lintel over the former lower wheelshaft opening being visible on an exterior photograph of the 1920s. This arrangement reflects a corn mill layout which was once quite common in Devon. The upper wheel would have had priority over the water supply from the launder, and if both wheels were run simultaneously, it would have been the more powerful. A watching brief was carried out during the removal of the interior ground floor of the mill, however no features associated with a former mill layout were observed and no artefacts were recovered. Other details: Figures 1-13; plates 1-6; photographs.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Cramp, C., 2015, North Devon Relief-Decorated Ceramics in the Household, 202, 211: Fig 8.9 (Article in Monograph). SDV365391.

This building was evidently a substantial 17th-century house; the plaster relief above the parlour fireplace bears the date 1659 and there is further plasterwork in the room above. An archive photograph (North Devon Record Office B513 194, 3, 6-7), shows the tiles reset beneath an iron grate of a first floor fireplace. The stamp is a variant of design K23. The distribution of this design suggests it was made in Barnstaple.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5034 - Historic Building Recording at Town Mills, Landkey
• EDV5039 - Watching Brief at Town Mills, Landkey

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