Water has been an important source of power on Exmoor for centuries. Used first for grinding corn, the water wheel was gradually adapted to a variety of tasks and only in this century has it been ousted by modern power supplies. In the Medieval Villages there were mills for fulling woollen cloth. With the introduction of machinery, farmers installed wheels to work threshing machines, feed crushers and root pulpers. On estates there were saw-mills. Water wheels drove the pumps, whims and crushers in the Exmoor mines and pulled loads and worked pumps in the limestone quarries.
Dunster working water mill
Water powered wheels used to grind corn from Saxon times were later adapted for use in fulling cloth, making edge tools, sawing wood and crushing apples to make cider. In the 19th and 20th centuries some drove turbines to provide electric power.
Dunster working water mill
There are waterwheels at Piles Mill, Allerford; Dunster Mill and in many villages.
Sites to visit: Dunster Working Water Mill, tel: 01643 821759. Simonsbath Sawmill, contact Exmoor National Park Authority.
In 1890 a hydro generating plant was installed at Lynmouth to supply electricity to the town. Dulverton and Porlock followed with similar schemes. The Lynmouth plant continued in use until 1952 when the station was destroyed in the great flood, but a new plant elsewhere in Lynmouth supplies electricity to the National Grid. Some private houses had their own hydro-driven generators but perhaps the most unusual use was a wheel at Woolhanger which provided the power to drive the bellows of a pipe-organ!
Old Corn Mill and Pottery, Hele Bay Ilfracombe - a 16th Centuary Waterwheel a with an 18ft overshot wheel. Restored from dereliction . The building contains a wealth of information and interesting machinery. The mill produces 100% wholemeal stoneground flour and muesli.
Old Corn Mill Hele Bay Ilfracombe
www.oldcormmillandpottery.co.uk
Burcott Mill at Wookey is another active Water Mill . The Domesday Book (1086) records that the Bishop of Wells owned 4 mills and historians have confirmed that Burcott Mill was one of them, although the first known named reference to Burcott Mill is dated 1302. This remained a Bishop's Mill until 1833 www.burcottmill.com
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