Monument record MDO47574 - Pymore Mills, Bradpole

A large and important complex of water and steam-powered mills with ancillary buildings, some of the buildings are derelict and overgrown, others are well preserved. Most of the buildings are of coursed stone or rubble. The complex also includes the derelict remains of an early 19th century water powered mill, the roof has been removed and the walls have been partly lowered. The waterwheel was fed by a culverted head race from the mill pond. Nearby is the intact early-mid 19th century beam engine house, with boiler house and chimney plinth. The raw materials store, ropery and finished product warehouse are still extant and are dealt with in the child record (517082). A second engine house, boiler house and octagonal brick stack were added in the late 19th century, and the weaving sheds at the centre of the site are also of late 19th century date. The housing associated with the site includes the three storey managers house. It is a symmetrical building, built of brick in the early-mid 19th century. There is also a late 19th century terrace of workers housing and a school.

This was the earliest of the Bridport textile mills, founded in 1800 by a partnership of four Bridport merchants. In 1790, William Fowler had purchased thefreehold of the grist and oil mill at Pymore. In 1799 he formed a partnership with joseph Gundry, Joseph Gundry Downwe and Samual Gundry, and it produced its first textiles in 1800.

The original mill is likely to have been similar to the other Bridport mills, the 1800 alterations only being the replacement of older machinery with spinning frames, carding and winding engines.In 1804, an extra 12.5 acres of land were purchased, and a new waterwheel added in 1805. In 1806, two reservoirs were created, each fed by the River Brit, the mill buildings lying between them. A new hackling shop was built in 1802, and a new warehouse and counting house built in 1819, when another waterwheel was added. There were four operating rooms in 1829/30. In 1834,the first steam engine was purchased. The complex was enlarged in 1850-7, and bleaching houses had been erected at the north-east corner of the old lower reservoir by 1876, by which time there were three steam engines on the site. The mill closed in 1955, and has since been used for light industry and housing. <3>

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, Dorset Sheet XXXVIII.6, Published 1890 (Map). SWX1197.

<2> Stanier, Peter, 1989, Dorset's Industrial Heritage, 39 (Monograph). SWX1300.

<3> Sims, R, 2006, The Rope, Net and Twine Industry of Bridport. 2) Factory Mills, 25 (Monograph). SDO10541.

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/063 South West Textile Mills Project (Unpublished document). SDO17323.

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF036601 (Index). SDO14738.

PYMORE MILLS MAIN STORES, PYMORE, BRADPOLE

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF111624 (Index). SDO14738.

Bridport Project

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 2K/08440 (Index). SDO14738.

BRIDPORT SURVEY

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP000796 (Index). SDO14738.

Exterior view of the north east mill at Pymore Mills, Bradpole

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP000797 (Index). SDO14738.

Exterior view of the north end of Pymore Mills, Bradpole from east

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP000798 (Index). SDO14738.

Exterior view of the east mill at the north end of Pymore Mills, Bradpole

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1346224 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 18 2023 4:25PM