MDE1069 - Parracombe Mill (Building)

SS 66804483. Watermill. A small two storey grist mill, thought to be of 16th Century origin, on the Barnstaple to Lynton road some four miles southwest of Lynton. It has been converted into a house and none of the machinery remains. [1] The overshot water wheel is made of cast iron, including the arms, with buckets of elm wood. It is placed on the outside of the building and is 14 feet in diameter. The mill house and granary are constructed of stone with slate roof and are all in good condition. No other machinery survives. This watermill is believed to date from 1650 and was last in operation in October 1942. It does not operate as a grist mill now, but is used to generate electric power for private use. The wheel was reconditioned in 1967. [2] Miller's house including attached outbuilding and mill. Probably late 17th century with 19th and 20th century alterations. Painted stone rubble, partially slate-hung at right gable end. Bitumized slate roof with gable ends. Stone rubble stack at left end with tapered cap and drip. The house, which is slightly cranked, has room to each side of entrance hall containing staircase, with lofted outbuilding attached at left end.. Two storey outshut to rear right end of house. Mill building extending at right angles from rear left end has outshot mill wheel still in working order at its gable end. [3] No machinery remains. Restored overshot wheel now a garden feature operated by a small stream. Leat is a narrow waterway meandering through the garden. Owners' historical notes show the mill was used as a fulling mill in 1543. In 1856 it was a farm mill. Restored and reopened 1967. D. Warren mentioned the wheel working a lathe to produce spinning wheels in 1975. It was 14 feet 9 inches in diameter, 3 feet 3 inches wide with 9 inch side plates and 42 oak buckets. [4] Corn mill marked on the Ordnance Survey map. [5] The mill is supplied by a leat from the southeast which still carries water. It flows from SS 6696 4475 some 180 metres to the southeast of the mill, and comprises a well defined earthwork, the channel being dammed up against the slope by some 0.8 metres. [6] Parracombe Mill, a former corn mill, and originally dates from the late 17th Century with 19th and 20th century alterations. Built of whitened stone rubble, with a partially slate hung gable there is a stone rubble stack with a tapered cap and drip stone. The outshot mill wheel, fed by a small stream, with the machinery formerly in an attached out building extending from the rear left end of the house, is still in working order. [8] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9] The mill leat, as described by [6], is visible on the 2021 MasterMap data and has been added to the GIS data for the Monument record. [10-11] The building is mentioned in the 2019 Conservation Area Appraisal for Parracombe. It is noted that the cast iron outshot mill wheel survives but no internal machinery remains. [12] The mill was assessed as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor’s Listed Buildings 2018-19, receiving a BAR score of 6. [13]