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. :)
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