Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

A very happy Christmas and New Year to everyone.  Lots of love to you all. 😊

 

 

 

Mills in Axminster, Devon - Part One: Castle Mill

Castle Mill is situated at the lowest point of Castle Hill, where it is thought that an actual castle once stood. I have been unable to find any history or information about the mill at all. I'm assuming that its name derives from the name of the street, and that the crenellations on the front part of the building were added for the same reason. There is another, more workaday, part of the building behind the front edifice, which I have been unable to get a clear look at, although it can partially be seen from the nearby railway bridge, below.

I came across this whilst having a mooch down to the bridge over the railway lines, looking for WW2 pillboxes, which I couldn't find. I later discovered they weren't there because I had the wrong bridge! 

I later found out that the ground floor of the front building is used by a pet food company, but the site looked a bit derelict and unused, which was why I decided to investigate and take a few photos. 

 

What looks like empty pet or bird cages outside the entrance, below. At that point I still thought it was disused, until...

...a rather large dog (or there might have been two) started barking when I went towards the door and the owner came out. He kindly allowed me to continue taking photos of the building close-up, once I'd explained why I was there.

I did have some information from Axminster Museum (now moved to a new building and renamed the Axminster Heritage Centre) concerning three mills in the town. There was this one and the nearby Brush Works, plus another one in the town - which I haven't yet ascertained its whereabouts, although it's also near behind Castle Mill - as well as two outside the town at Weycroft and Millbrook. Unfortunately, I've just looked through all my notebooks going back twenty years and can't find it! So, that's it for now and if I do find out anything else I'll add it to this post. Cheers. :)

 

 

 

Bridge Toll House, Axmouth, Devon

A toll bridge until 1907, the little toll house still remains and is on the Seaton side of the river near to the Boat House (the former Devon Dive building) - although that stretch just this side of the bridge is actually part of Axmouth village - and is now a residential house called Bridge Cottage. 

Oddly enough, this isn't a listed building even though it's a historical building with lovely and quirky architecture. Built in 1877, as part of the toll bridge which replaced the ferry crossing, it was eventually made redundant when tolls were no longer needed. 

The Lord of the Manor at that time was S. Sanders Stephens. He paid £2,200 towards the sum of £5,000 raised to free the bridge from tolls. Interestingly, Mr Stephens owned the company Stephens Ink and lived at the nearby William and Mary style house, Stedcombe Manor...known by locals as 'The Inkpot', both because of the shape of the house and the ink association.

This is one of the Blue Plaque buildings in Seaton, which can also be seen in my article about them here. I had a walk down to take some new photos and was seen by one of the family living in the house and he asked why I was taking photos. As it happened I used to know the chap, although I hadn't seen him for a good twenty years or so, and we had a chat after he'd realised who I am and that I wasn't up to no good! ;) 

A view of the harbour from the toll house, above.

A hedge runs from the toll house to the start of the bridge, which is inhabited by lots of lovely sparrows. I tried to take a photo of them but they vamooshed over the hedge so quickly that I couldn't even get a shot of them taking off.

And lastly, another photo of the harbour from the left side.