Description

BUCKFASTLEIGH

SX76NW HIGHER MILL LANE, Buckfast
1011-1/1/40 (East side)
06/01/83 Higher Mill, including walls to leat
at north end and remains of
machinery
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGHER MILL LANE, Buckfast
Higher Mill, premises of Buckfast
Plating Co Ltd)

GV II

Woollen mill, later used as plating factory, disused at time
of survey (1992). Mill probably late C18 with later
alterations. Local grey limestone rubble, upper storeys of
front elevation slate-hung, half basement partly rendered.
Asbestos slate roof, half hipped at right end, gabled at left
end; left end stack with rendered shaft.
Plan: large rectangular building fronting the road with a
cartway entrance at the left end. The mill consists of large
open rooms on each floor including an attic floor, the first
and 2nd floors are well lit with large front and rear windows.
Staircase to rear of cartway entrance. Machinery was
presumably powered by the leat at the west end, which runs
underground, emerging near the south gate of Buckfast Abbey,
to the SE. A (truncated) launder (qv) to rear of the mill,
carries a second water supply parallel to the mill with a
sluice between the mill and the rear range.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, the ground floor storey slightly below
road level at the front. Asymmetrical 7-window range. Roof
line rises at left end to left of a gabled dormer which may
have been associated with a hoist. Cartway to left with paired
plank doors. Ground-floor windows glazed with various C20
casements. First-floor windows probably most with the original
sash frames in original embrasures but mostly reglazed. 7
second-floor 20-pane hornless sash windows, probably late C18,
some in poor state of repair. 3 hipped roof attic dormers
light the roofspace. The left return has a loft loading door.
The right return, overlooking the leat, has 3 round-headed
recesses in the centre, one to each storey, thelower opening
partly glazed. Boarded rectangular windows in the outer bays,
ground and first floor, the ground-floor right opening glazed.
The rear elevation is buttressed, most of the windows boarded
up at time of survey.
INTERIOR: ground floor has chamfered crossbeams with runout
stops and exposed joists. An axial row of cast-iron columns
supports the crossbeams. The columns divide into 2 at the top.
The first floor has chamfered cross beams and a row of
secondary axial posts. The 2nd floor has chamfered cross beams
with metal shoes at either end to which loose metal rods are
attached. Attic storey floored.
Roof: Probably C18 roof construction of large scantling,
mortised at the apex with a mortised collar and queen posts
which have iron straps tied over the principals; probably
secondary high butt collar.
Historical note: the documentation for this building has been
researched by Elizabeth Knowling. There was a mill on the site
by at least 1730, described as a tucking mill by 1760. In 1800
"Mills" were described as "lately erected on the site
previously occupied by the tucking mill". By 1953 the
buildings were in use as a plating works. The late C18/early
C19 owner, Samuel Berry, built himself a house at Buckfast
Abbey (qv) out of reused material.
Physical remains of the wool industry, crucial to the economy
of Devon in the C16, C17 and C18, are rare in the county. This
building is certainly one of the earliest and most intact in
the county and a significant surviving example.
(Knowling E: Private archive: 1991-).

Listing NGR: SX7391167376

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26512708

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)