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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

MARSH MILLS, PLYMPTON

It is not clear whether the Marsh Mills got their name from their proximity to the Coypool and May's Marshes or from the time after 1795 when Thomas Marsh of Bridport and Henry Marsh of Plympton St Mary, were the millers there.  The Mills were in the parish of Plympton St Mary while the marshes were on the Plymouth side of the river Plym.

A map extract showing Marsh Mills in relation to the railway, Crabtree
and Coypool and May's Marshes.

However, they were at first named the Woodford Mills, as they belonged to the manor of Woodford.  The earliest known reference is in 1582 when a Jerome Mayhowe was granted the right to take stones, turf and timber from Boringdon woods in order to keep the leat and Woodford Mill in good repair.  It had two water-wheels and three pairs of stones so it often operated as two mills.  For example, in 1622 it seems to have been both a tucking mill and a grist mill.

Its rental value went up over time, from £29 per annum in 1744 paid by Alexander Warn, through £110 paid by Thomas Collard in 1778 to £250 paid by the Thomas and Henry Marsh after 1795.  In 1840 it was shared between miller Richard Shilson of Plympton, who had two-thirds of the mill and the mill-leat, and William Alsopp, an earthenware manufacturer from Plymouth, who had the western wheel and one-third of the mill and leat.  Shilson had the better deal, in as much that he could use the water from 6am until 10pm but Alsopp had to use it during the night. 

Although Messrs Frean and Daw of Drake's Mill in the centre of Plymouth were listed as occupying Marsh Mills in 1849-50, they were not the millers listed in the 1851 census as living there.  The more senior was Thomas Gullett, aged 50, from Shaugh, who rather oddly seems to have declared himself to be a miller's servant.   With him and his Irish wife, Mary, were sons George, Thomas and William, the first two also being millers.  They had a 32-years-old lodger by the name of James Renshols, also a miller.

Also listed at Marsh Mills were Richard Lewis, aged 33, his wife Eliza, their four young children and a 10-years-old visitor by the name of Elizabeth Hodgers.

At Marsh House, on the Plymouth side of the river Plym, lived George Daw, another miller.  He was only in his mid-40s so was unlikely to be retired.  Besides his poor wife, Jemima, had given birth to a child almost every year for some 14 years!  Amongst the children was 8-years-old Richard H Daw and he is probably the Richard Harvey Daw who was miller at Marsh Mills in 1890 and 1897.

The Mills appear to have been purchased by Messrs Boswarva & Harris Ltd in 1920 and was still being worked in 1927 but they then went into receivership.  Marsh Mills were up for sale in 1929 and comprised the following:

• A substantially-built dwelling house containing two reception rooms, a study with its own side entrance, a large kitchen, sculleries, larder, WC, and coal house on the Ground Floor with four 'light, airy' bedrooms, bathroom and WC on the First Floor, and 4 bedrooms on the top floor, all with mains water and gas laid on;
• Two paddocks;
• An ornamental garden enclosed by a dwarf wall and railings at the front;
• A walled garden at the rear of the house;
• A substantially-built, slated, mill or factory, L-shaped, with one bay of 63 feet by 58 feet and another of 97 feet by 27 feet, containing three floors, and equipped with an 80 brake-horse-power Gilke's Turbine and a 9 horse-power Armfield's Turbine, the power for which was drawn from the river Plym at Cann Wood;
• A private siding connecting with the Great Western Railway's Launceston branch;
• An open yard connected by a private road to the main Plymouth to Exeter road, 'over which Omnibuses ply at frequent intervals to Plymouth, London, Birmingham, and many other places';
• A well-built, slated, building, formerly the gas engine house, at the rear of the Mill and measuring 31 feet by 26 feet, and which could 'be easily adapted for many purposes';
• Fronting the main road, a specious yard with stone-built and slated buildings, forming the stables, coach houses, open-fronted linhays, all of which 'is well adapted and ripe for development as a garage and petrol filling station, there being a very excellent level draw-in, with a very prominent frontage to the main road';
• An extensive range of piggeries built of local limestone with a slated roof, containing 10 large roomy stys, together with a meal house and a boiler house.

All this came with the benefit of Valuable Water Rights held in perpetuity for the Mills, which were 'a very valuable and economical motive power'.

Although the sale reached £2,000, this was lower than the reserve price and the Marsh Mills were withdrawn from sale.

Page created: 18 September 2004

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