Old Mill

This is a mill, dating to the early to mid-19th century, built on a medieval site. It is now used as storage space and is planned to become a gallery for the Blake Museum, which is located to the left. The building is constructed of painted limestone rubble at its base, with painted English-bond brick above, and has a pantile roof, half-hipped at the front gable end. It has a rectangular plan with extensions to the left.

The front of the building, which faces north-west onto Blake Street, has a 20th-century two-light casement window at eaves level. Below this is a small four-pane window with a timber lintel, and to its left, a 20th-century vertical six-pane window with a timber lintel. To the right of the six-pane window are double-planked doors under a 20th-century timber lintel. A gauged brick segmental arch frames a 19th-century two-light window high on the ground floor of the right return. A catslide roof and further extensions to the left are concealed behind a cottage that is part of the Blake Museum.

Inside, the upper floor of the main block on the right features 19th-century cross-bracing to a horizontally planked roof, and a four-light window to the rear. Part of the upper floor extends to the left within an outshut. The ground floor contains a pit, with some cogged machinery remnants of the former undershot mill wheel. The Durleigh Brook flows underneath the mill in a vaulted culvert constructed of rubble stone.

The mill was recorded dating to the 14th century and was known as the Town Mill by the 17th century. In 1709, Richard Lowbridge gained permission from the Mayor and Corporation to divert water from the Durleigh Brook to supply water to the town, using pipes constructed from halved elm logs. Sections of these pipes were recovered during various alterations in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.