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Summary

The remains of a tidemill survive at the eastern end of a dam across the mouth of the creek. The mill was built in 1822 and despite being badly damaged on at least two occasions remained in operation until the late 19th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX46SE/15

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• TIDE MILL (Built, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Blaxton Mill (Corn) marked, at the eastern end of a dam across the creek. The floodgates to let the incoming tidal water into the mill pond are also marked.

Chope, R. P., 1928-1929, Tidal Mills, 57 (Article in Serial). SDV178189.

By the late 1920's the mill had more or less recently disappeared.

Minchinton, W. + Perkins, J., 1971, Tidemills of Devon and Cornwall, 23 (Monograph). SDV114474.

Minchinton, W. + Perkins, J., 1971 - 1973, Tidemills in Devon and Cornwall: Part 2, 3 (Article in Serial). SDV114469.

A tidemill situated on the River Tavy. It had a single wheel and a nine-acre millpool which still survives although the dam has gone. Noted on the tithe map and award.

Dyer, M. J. + Manning, P. T., 1998, Objective 5B: Lower Tamar Valley Recreation and Land Management Iinitiative: Cultural Heritage Appraisal, 65 (Report - non-specific). SDV319814.

Shown on the 1870 Ordnance Survey 6 inch map as a flour and grist mill. It appears to be a tidemill, with the mill located on the eastern end of a dam across mouth of the creek next to a floodgate.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 30.1 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

Bellamy, L., et al, 2002, A Study of the Maritime Archaeology of the Eastern Tamar Estuary (Report - Survey). SDV348208.

According to Minchinton and Perkins, this tidal mill had a single wheel 18 feet in diameter and 7 feet wide but no evidence of it was visible. It appears the building was of considerable size and that the creek passed by under it by means of the arches, still just visible above the mud. On this structure the buttressing is clearly functional and original to the building.

Tamar Valley AONB volunteers, 2015, Blaxton Mill and associated millpond and Blaxton Limekilns. (Worksheet). SDV361038.

Remains of a tidal mill at the mouth of the Blaxton Creek. The most substantial part of the surviving structure is the north-western wall, comprising a 4.0 metre high, 0.8 metre thick stone wall with a castellated top and two filled in arches at the bottom. These formerly carried the outgoing tide water under the building. The interior of the building is infilled to the same level as the top of the dam and grass-covered.
The mill was built in 1822, when Thomas Menhinnett of Tamerton Foliot was given permission in a lease of March that year from Sir Mannaseh Masseh Lopes of Maristow to 'make an embankment across Blaxton Creek and to built a mill house for grist and flour milling'. The mill was apparently blown down in 1828 and then destroyed by fire in 1837. It appears to have been rebuilt as a miller is still listed in 1957. However, it appears to have gone out of use by 1892. It is not shown on the 1896 Ordnance Survey map (which was surveyed in 1892) and the pond is shown as silted up. See worksheet for further details.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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