The Sea Shanty, Branscombe, Devon

Following on from the National Trust Trail (see the last four posts for the Forge, Forge Cottages, The Old Bakery and Manor Mill), the Sea Shanty is the perfect end to a good walk with lots of interesting things to see. And, although this one isn't owned by the National Trust, it also has plenty of architectural and historical interest.

One might be forgiven for thinking that this is a place that has recently been built by adding to an existing farmhouse. Interestingly though, from what I can discover so far, there have been tea rooms here for at least 85 years.

According to the website of the current owners, the Sea Shanty has been "offering homemade lunches and cream teas to walkers of the South West Coast Path and beach lovers since 1943". However, I saw a lovely old photograph from 1931 in the Francis Frith Collection, which shows the Sea Shanty just as it looks today, and where people are sitting at tables outside enjoying refreshments.

  
I found another bit of information from a review of the book Cliff and Beach at Branscombe by Barbara Farquharson & Sue Dymond, in which is mentioned that the Sea Shanty was built upon the coal yard at Branscombe Mouth. The oldest part of the building and walls may have been an original part of that.

I first visited the tea rooms some 38 years ago (circa 1980), after a long walk from Seaton along the cliff path with my toddler son in his pushchair, plus my friend and her two little girls who were staying with us on holiday.

I hadn't been inside since, until this visit at the end of September 2015 after visiting the Forge, the Old Bakery and Manor Mill. 

Comprising the tea rooms and a shop, the one thing I didn't know about is the delightful courtyard garden at the rear. Full of plants and herbs in pots, rustic seating, picnic benches, staddle stones and marine artefacts enclosed in ivy-encrusted stone rubble walls, with a rather grand centrepiece of a circular flower bed. In the middle of this are two mill stones adorned with large pebbles and old coloured glass fishing floats.

The ivy on the wall in the photo below hides the entrance to the loos, by the way, and is much more modern and beautifully kept than the entrance impies!

The photo below shows the grassy area outside where the other al fresco picnic benches are.
 

A good walk, lots of interesting places to visit, finishing with hot chocolate and a slice of cake at the Sea Shanty. A perfect end to a perfect day! :)

Manor Mill, Branscombe, Devon

Continuing from the last three blog posts, when some friends and myself visited four places on the National Trust trail in Branscombe, it was time for our last stop - or was it? More about that later, lol. After the Old Bakery (see previous post) we went over this funky little bridge and across a field to Manor Mill; the fourth place on the National Trust trail.

This is the only surviving mill in Branscombe, which once had four mills; another grist mill, a sawmill and gypsum mill. Built in the 19th century, it was a later addition to the mediaeval ones, and was in use up until just before WW2. Left in disrepair, it was eventually restored in the 1990s to full working order, and can be seen working during opening times.

Walking past an outbuilding, the mill can be seen on the right in the above photo. The building doesn't appear to be on the British Listing register - although not all of them do appear as they are either new additions to the original listings or are on a council list elsewhere - or it may be because it wasn't considered a good enough example during its dilapidated state.

When we got there I enthusiastically walked down the slope to the front (below) but was called back by one of my friends who'd visited before...

...so back up the slope again. Built into the hill, the top entrance leads into the first floor, next to which can be seen the waterwheel that powers the mill.

An overshot wheel, the leat runs into a wooden mill race where it then pours from the top, as opposed to an undershot wheel which has the stream at the bottom of the wheel.

The layout of a grist mill usually has four floors. Starting from the top, the highest and driest floors are the Sack Floor, where the grain is stored awaiting grinding, and the Grain Loft above that for the finished bags of flour.

The first floor is called the Stone Floor, which contains the millstones that grind the grain; together with the hoppers which deliver the grain into the stones. The Meal Floor is on the ground floor, where the machinery geared from the waterwheel to drive the stones is situated.

So our first port of call was the Stone Floor, where the grinding takes place.

Bags of grain or flour are delivered to the top floors by means of a chain hoist.

As can be seen in these photos, the grist is ground between two stones; the top one is called the runner, which is mounted on a separate spindle and driven by the main shaft, whereas the bottom one is called the bed and is fixed to the floor. The distance between the stones can be varied to produce a finer or courser flour and they turn at around 120 rpm.

The main shaft turns to drive other machinery too, such as a mechanical sieve to refine the flour and the wooden drum used to wind the chain that hoists up the sacks.

Below can be seen one of the hoppers which delivers the grain to the stones.

My friends went up some almost vertical wooden steps to see the sack room and grain loft, but I didn't think I'd manage to get back down due to a back injury, so I left that one. Then downstairs to the Meal Floor to see the machinery that drives the mill from the waterwheel.

The photo below is my favourite of the day, and one of my all-time favourites too. Spinning cogwheels, wood shavings, cobwebs and little model mice. Magic!

On the ground floor room there was also a rack with old-fashioned clothes for children to dress up in. Being the big kids that we are, we decided to have a go. The other two ladies wore the maids outfits. I'm not a girlie girl though, and I don't do frills and dresses, so I donned the waistcoat and cap. Someone kindly took a photo of us on one of my friends' camera - with me in the middle - but I don't have a copy of it. Not sure I'd want anyone to see it anyway! ;) 

 Outside again, exiting from the ground floor to the front of the mill.

Like most of the local vernacular buildings, it was constructed with stone rubble. There are wood lintels above the doors and windows, brick chimney stacks and hanging tiles on the overhang at the side, softened by a lovely ivy growing up part of one wall.

Although this was the last of the National Trust buildings there was still another place to visit, and after Manor Mill we continued along the path to the beach for our last port of call - the Sea Shanty - which has some interesting history as well as being a delightful building. It was also the perfect place to finish the day with cake and hot chocolate at teatime.

To be continued in the next article.