Bidlake Mill and leat

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1004571) describes a watermill and its leat in a valley on the eastern side of the River Lew. The mill is a small rectangular two-storey building of slate rubble, with a scantle-tiled roof gabled at one end and half-hipped at the other. It has a fireplace with a chimney of slate slabs and a cast iron overshot wheel with timber pockets, fed from the leat by a timber launder. The leat is fed from the Lew. Inside, some of the wooden and cast iron machinery is still in place, with two sets of granite millstones and one set of timber furniture. It lies in the parish of Bridestowe, about 2.8 km west of Bridestowe.

The manorial mill was first mentioned in 1268. The present building goes back to 1565, when a document recorded that the 'leate was finished and the myll reedified', though most of what stands is 17th century. Henry Bidlake held the mill at the end of the Civil War. It once had two wheels, one of which drove stocks or hammers for fulling cloth. About 1800 they were replaced by a single larger wheel and a layshaft to drive two pairs of millstones, and it ground grain until the 1930s. Woodworking machinery was then driven from an extension of the layshaft until 1956. The present wheel replaces the 1800s one and still works a circular saw. The leat runs a considerable distance to the north and east of the mill. The watermill is also listed at Grade II.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1004571 (updated 11 November 2015) (which lists no further sources).

• Period: Medieval
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1004571)
• Grid reference: SX 4876 8854 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)