A gorgeous old mill, this started life as a storage for wool in the 18th century. In the above photo Castle Mill can just about be seen in the background on the right, which was also used in the textile industry, both mills situated alongside the River Axe in order to power the mills with waterwheels.
Part One about Castle Mill can be seen here. I didn't have the information when I wrote that one, which I recently came across for this article.
Mentioned in Pevsner's book of Devon, he noted that the group of mills at the bottom of Castle Street included the Old Brush Works, Castle Mill and another six-bay stone and brick mill with a pantiled roof. I did read somewhere that the other mill was situated behind Castle Mill. However, I don't know if it's possible to get near to that one.
He continued to write "The Old Brush factory is of five bays and three storeys, stone with brick dressings under a pantiled roof, with small-paned, round-headed windows." I didn't actually notice the roof but on close inspection of my photos it looks like it's still tiled with pantiles.
Its history includes being a flax workshop and a rope factory. Later sold to a Mr Coates for use as a brush factory, the building is called The Old Brush Works. And now owned by the company Jaffe et Fils Ltd - known as the Feather Factory - which was established in 1948.
The last surviving feather company in Britain, Jaffe et Fils was started after WW2 in 1946. They treat, hand-sort and hand-dye feathers for the military, film industry, fashion, millinery, costume, carnival, theatre and many other uses. On their website there's a fab photo of Angelina Jolie in the film Maleficient wearing her beautiful feathered wings. That and more can be read about on their site here. And there's also a blog article written by Holly Young of her visit to the factory with a description of the process and work, which can be read here.
And finally, the last photo also showing Castle Mill at the rear. :)
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