Mill Building, Colyton, Devon

 

One Sunday afternoon, in late September 2014, myself and two friends went out to have lunch and listen to a jazz band at the Garden Shop in Colyton. It was a really lovely, relaxing, warm sunny day and I enjoyed chatting and listening to fab music, but...I'm not one to sit around doing nothing for too long, and besides I had my camera with me and this building opposite was beckoning.
 

This puzzled me for a while as I couldn't find anything about it at first, but I did discover more than I'll ever need to know about tiles! Which, actually is very interesting, especially as these are Double Roman tiles of the type made in Bridgwater, Somerset, known as Bridgwater Tiles, and mostly to be found on older buildings in the South-West.
 

I contacted the Colyton History Society for any information they might have, and member John Forrester-Addie very kindly had a look at it for me. He reckons that it was probably an 18th century utility building belonging to the complex of mills. This makes perfect sense, as it's situated amongst the line of buildings alongside the mill race, comprising the Corn Mill, Town Mill, Currier, this building and the nearby Tannery. That also fits in with the tiles too, as they were mostly used on industrial buildings.

A hipped roof on the main central building, the tiles continue along and over an additional part of the building on the right, seen below, which may have been a storage shed. Something similar can be seen on the blacksmith's forge in Branscombe, where the annexe was used to store wood for the forge fire. This wasn't the smithy, though, as the one in Colyton is accounted for in another nearby building.

A similar arrangement can be seen on the left side, below, but without the continuation of roof and its tiles, therefore that might be something that was added later.

Faded brick, weathered wood and rusty pipes. What more could a girl wish for!

Behind the wall at the rear of the building is an old orchard, somewhat overgrown and allowed to go wild. It's probably nothing to do with the mill building itself, but these old orchards are prolific in East Devon, and much too delightful to ignore when they crop up next to somewhere I'm exploring.

The Tannery, Colyton, Devon - Part Two

 

My second visit was in late september 2014. I was at the Garden Shop a little further up the lane with two friends. It was a sunday and there was a jazz band playing in the outdoor garden area, so we'd decided to have lunch there whilst enjoying the music. I had my camera with me and, as I'm not one to sit around for too long, I decided to take some photos of an interesting building opposite...and before I knew it I'd also gravitated to the tannery again. This time I ventured further into the site. 

I included the history about the tannery, also the tanning processes, on the first part. Therefore, please read that for the relevant information. However, I did leave something out, which is that the front buildings are Grade II Listed. As I mentioned previously, although the buildings have been here since Mediaeval times they have mostly been rebuilt during the 18th century and some added to during the 19th. Even with the addition of some Georgian windows the site has that wonderful late Mediaeval/Tudor feel to it.

On my way in I had a closer look at the weighbridge office.

I tried the door and it was open, so I snuck some photos of the interior.

The weighing machine, above & below. The weighbridge in front of the office is used to weigh trade vehicles, both full and empty as they come and go, in order to calculate the load carried.

The right side building at the front, below. I didn't take any photos of the building on the left side with the wonderful louvred archway, but several can be seen on part one in the previous post.

I took more photos of these fab gantry walkways though, as I just can't get enough of them.

Some of the buildings that I hadn't taken photos of before.

A couple of intriguing little entryways.

And more buildings further on into the site.

Plus some odd bits & bobs, including this cute little barrow... 

...some metal barrels...

...and an old winch housing along with some fab windows.

 

I came across this old piece of machinery again and this time took some close-ups.

I don't know what it is but it does have a hopper on the top, therefore was probably used to feed something through. I'm wondering if it might have been an earlier grinder for the oak bark, although please don't quote me on this as it's just my own conjecture.

Looking back towards the front of the site.

 

 

I had another look inside where the watermill is housed  and took some photos of the mill pond through the window.

Next to this I found an entry to the side of the deep layer pits, photo below, together with a bell by the wall at the end that I hadn't noticed on my first visit.

And some more of the gantry walkways...just because! ;)

I hope you enjoyed the tours around this fabulous site. And if you haven't done so already, please check out Part One for the interior and other exterior photos, process information and history. Cheers. :)