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.