PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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There were possibly four mills driven by the wind in the Plymouth area, on the Hoe, at Stoke Damerel, at Lipson and at Plympton. The one on the Hoe is believed to have been of the post type and was certainly in existence in 1573, when a Mr William Morton was paid £11 for two stones for it. It is shown on the Plymouth siege map of 1643. In 1652 a bench was constructed around it for people to sit upon and in 1660 the windmill itself was repaired. Part of the sale of the Sutton Pill estate in 1820 included a Windmill Park of 5¾ acres in extent, lying between our present Athenaeum Stret and Notte Street. It had been let to Mr John Spark and his successors for three shillings a year between 1608 and 1740, for the same rent to Sir John Molesworth and his successors from 1742 to 1785 and to Mr William Clark between 1790 and 1806. For a plot of land so near to the Hoe to have remained at the same rental for almost two hundred years suggests that the windmill's importance was in decline. Exactly when it disappeared is unknown but it probably did not survive into the 1700s because of the competition from Drake's water powered mills. It may be that this windmill was repalced by the second one of importance in the area, that at Stoke Damerel. Located on the site where the Devonport Column was built in 1824, it was certainly in existence in 1751, when it was being offered for sale. It came on the market again in 1756 and in 1769, when it was described as being newly erected. Similarly, in 1775 it was described as being only 13-years-old. The Devonport windmill is shown on maps drawn in 1768 and 1813 and their is a pen and ink sketch of the tower, without sails, dated 1814 in the Plymouth Museum. A field called "Windmill Park" is a clue to a possible windmill at Lipson. Some 6 acres in extent, this field was leased by the Corporation to Mr John Julien (sic) in 1736 for a rent of 3s 4d. By 1791 part of the field had been used as a site for Sea View House leaving 4½ acres. The House was on the corner of Lipson Road, on its way up from the Town to Lipson Hill, and Round House Lane, which is the modern Mount Gould Road. The field ran away to the east and south-east of the House, with the property called the Round House directly to the east. It is thought that this "Round House" was the base of the windmill and at approximately 177 feet above sea level, with ground dropping on either side, it was certainly an ideal location. It was presumably demolished in the 1880s, when Channel View Terrace and Lipson Avenue were under construction, The final local windmill is thought to have been at Plympton, where some fields on either side of the main Ridgeway road were known as "Windmill" and "Windmills". There is no other eivedence as to their true signifiance, however.
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