See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Site of Blatchford Paper Mill which was in operation between 1823 and 1897.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53NE/5

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PAPER MILL (XIX - 1823 AD (Between) to 1897 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Blatchford Paper Mill is shown as a group of buildings. A water course(s) at the western end of the range of buildings in the north-western part of the site suggests that this may have been the papermill.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

The range of buildings has been demolished, replaced by a smaller group of buildings.

Slee, A. H., 1938, Some Dead Industries of North Devon, 219 (Article in Serial). SDV60673.

Shorter, A. H., 1938 - 1939, Paper Mills in Devon, 35 (Article in Serial). SDV85082.

Shorter, A. H., 1938-1939, The Paper Making Industry near Barnstaple, 56-57 (Article in Serial). SDV85083.

Some documentary evidence cited. It was a small mill, converted to a grain mill after its demise as a paper mill.

Shorter, A. H., 1947-1949, Paper Mills in Devon and Cornwall, 102 (Article in Serial). SDV85084.

Shorter, A. H., 1950, The Historical Geography of the Paper Making Industry in Devon, 1684-1950, 210 (Article in Serial). SDV122239.

Known to have been operating as a paper mill between 1823 and 1897, using a paper making machine.

Bone, M., 1973, Barnstaple's Industrial Archaeology, 33 (Monograph). SDV78228.

Blatchford Paper Mill. It was worked by William List in 1857 for pulping and rolling, employing twelve people. It continued to be worked into the 1880's making sugar papers, browns, royals and general grocery papers on a machine of 1.270m. It can be traced and some ruins survive.

North Devon Archaeological Society, 1989, North Devon Watermills, 54 (Monograph). SDV337776.

In 1973 the leat and some ruins could still be traced. This mill was worked by william list in 1857 and worked as a paper mill until the 1880s. It then became a grain mill

University of the Third Age, 1995, Watermills in North Devon 1994, 8 (Monograph). SDV74915.

Evidence for the existence of the mill is hard to find. The owner says it was between the stable and the road, where the dung heap now is. It seems likely to have been on the north side of the yew tree, where there is a probable wheel pit and 2ft high walls of the mill. The leat is not easy to identify, but definitely dry. It possibly comes from the north, close to the B3230; here a short length of stone walled 'trough' was found near the mill site. It is also possible that the leat ran east-west from the Sloley Barton stream. It is almost certain that the water ran from the mill under the B3230 to the Bradiford Water. It was worked by William List in 1837 and continued as a paper mill until the 1880's when it became a grain mill. Its last use was probably before 1919, when the Chichester Estate was broken up.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 33.21 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.