Mills belonging to St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall

 

Mills belonging to St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall contains charters and deeds covering the years from about 1070 to 1372. After the dissolution of the monasteries the cartulary was held by the crown before passing in 1612 to the Cecil family when the property of the former priory was sold to Robert, Earl of Salisbury. Sometime between 1068 and 1070 Robert, Count of Mortain, granted St. Michael’s Mount with a half hide of land to the abbey of Mont St. Michel in northern France. This grant was backdated to before 1037 but after 1042 so to give the impression that King Edward the Confessor made the grant of the Mount to the French abbey in that time. But St. Michael’s Mount was slow to get established and early land grants to it seem not to have become effective. It was 1135 before the abbot of Mont St. Michel is first recorded building a priory on St. Michael’s Mount.[1]

St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall by Baz Richardson

In 1337 King Edward III seized all the so-called alien priories in England to fund the start of the Hundred Years War, including St. Michael’s Mount and its Cornish property. The priory and its estate was then worth 200 marks.[2] The effects of the war, coupled with the Black Death plague of 1348-1351, meant that by 1362 there were only two resident monks on the Mount. Over the years St. Michael’s Mount was variously restored to Mont St. Michel only to be again seized by the English crown.[3] In 1300 the cost of maintaining a monk for a year was five marks at Whalley abbey in Lancashire and with only two monks on the Mount, the priory had a nice surplus income that could be used by a government in need of funds for war.[4]

For a time St. Michael’s Mount was held by King’s College Cambridge under a grant by King Henry V before returning to the crown.[5] In 1416 part of the estate of St. Michael’s Mount was given to the new Brigitine house of Syon abbey at Isleworth. In 1424 the entire property of St. Michael’s Mount, including the Mount, was granted to Syon house. In 1425 the Bishop of Exeter replaced the monks with three secular priests. In 1437 Syon house took possession of St. Michael’s Mount and estate but legal arguments ensued and the crown held the Mount until 1461 when the Mount was restored to Syon house.[6] In 1539 the Mount was seized by the crown with the dissolution of the monasteries and leased to various tenants until sold to the Cecil family in 1611-12.[7]

Mill Mehell

One of the oldest mills held by the priory of St. Michael’s Mount was called Mill Mehell or St. Michael’s Mill in a valley below Lesneage in the parish of St. Keverne in west Cornwall. The mill was part of the manor of Traboe, one of the main endowments of the priory.[8] The Cornish word for a mill, melin, frequently forms part of place names and possibly does in this case.[9] Sometime before 1259 the priory built a new hall or grange in Traboe manor.[10] In 1258 John de Trembrase granted St. Michael’s priory the stream flowing through his land of Trembrase to near Mill Mehell with permission to build a sluice and a leat on the land to the mill. In return the priory gave John de Trembase two shillings. In addition the priory paid John de Trembrase six pence per year for the weir and the water flow along the new leat.[11]

It seems the priory mill was built before 1258, possibly using a different water supply. In 1086 there were only six recorded mills in Cornwall.[12] Mill Mehell was possibly built around 1200 when landlords saw manorial mills generated more income than having tenants using hand mills at home. By 1258 for some unknown reason the mill was in need of a new water source or extra water to keep the mill working in the dry summer months. As in most medieval manors the tenants were obliged to grind their corn at the manor mill but occasional landlords could waiver the obligation as in 1348 when the priory leased a messuage and land to Richard de Trenemyny and Richard Trewortharap.[13]

It would seem that the dry summers of 13^th Cornwall, which favoured vineyards, was a problem for the millers of Mill Mehell as by 1267 they needed a new water supply. In 1267 Thomas of Congwidan (Polgwidan) gave the priory his rights to his moor land and waters near the leprosary of Nansclegy. The priory could divert the waters of the moor land to Mill Mehell and were given a right of way for their horses and packs to access the mill. In return the priory recognised Thomas’ right to his vineyard opposite the mill and to part of the road going towards St. Keverne between the lazar house and the great stone.[14] The moor land would retain the winter rains and release them in the summer to help the mill to keep in production.

In 1481 the reeve’s report for Syon house said that Rado Boteler paid 26s 10d in rent for Mill Mehell. The low income of the mill compared to other Cornish mills is likely to be because St. Keverne parish had a number of medieval mills each with their own customers or the difficulties of water supply restricted the operations of the mill and thus reduced its value. In 1611 the Earls of Salisbury acquired the mill along with the entire priory’s estate.[15] In 1651 the next Earl sold the mill to the John Gregor family of Trewarthenick.[16] In the 18^th century the mill was still in operation and valued at £30 with Anthony Hosken as the tenant. When the Gregor estate was sold in 1909 the mill, still called Mellin Mehall mill, and late in the tenancy of Barnett Tripconey, deceased. Lot number 10 included the mill and a dwelling house. The mill continued to operate until the late 20^th century but today most of the machinery is gone and the leat has nearly all disappeared. Today the mill building is a private dwelling house.[17]    

Mehall mill; photographer unknown 

Trevabyn mill

In about 1200 Odo son of Frewynus gave the priory his mill of Trevabyn in the parish of St. Hilary with its associated mill stream and meadows. This grant was approved by his lord, Adam Bloyou.[18] Sometime between 1204 and 1229 Robert Curtehose (son of Nicholas, son of Frewynus) confirmed a grant of an acre of land in perpetual alms to the priory by Odo Frewynus along with Trevabyn mill and the multure of the arable land of Trevabyn at the mill.[19] The usual rate of multure in Cornwall was a twelfth part of the grain that was ground at each mill.[20] Sometime in 1230-50, Robert, son of Nicholas, son of Frewynus de Tromeru, quit-claimed Trevabyn mill and its associated mill stream to the priory.[21]

Trelowarren mill

In 1262 St. Michael’s Mount acquired Trelowarren mill in the parish of St. Mawgan-in-Meneage from Martin de Funteines, lord of Halliggye, with the right to make a weir, a leat and a millpond provided this was not hinder Martin from carrying sand to marl his lands beyond the leat. In return the priory paid Martin six pence per year.[22] In 1295 Roger, lord of Halliggye, confirmed the grant of Trelowarren mill.[23] The parish of St. Mawgan-in-Meneage, like St. Keverne, had good land and climate that could produce a good harvest of wheat and corn.[24] Today Trelowarren mill is a dwelling house.

Conclusion

The three corn mills of the priory of St. Michael’s Mount provided a local service and source of income for the priory. The mills appear to have been at the lower end of the income spectrum with Traboe mill earning 26s 10d when compared to other mills in Cornwall. Mills owned by the Earls of Cornwall generated a fixed income between 33s 4d and 133s 4d.[25] The priory did have a right to take a bushel measure on corn unloaded at the port of the Mount which was confirmed in 1353.[26] It also collected tithe income on corn grown on its estates and sold at its markets. In 1539 the priory and its corn income were no more but at least one of the priory’s mills, Mill Mehell, continued to provide a local service well into the twentieth century; nearly 750 years of service.

 

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[1] Hull, P.L. (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 5, 1962), pp. vii, viii, xiii, xvii

[2] Hull, P.L. (ed.), The caption of seisin of the Duchy of Cornwall, 1337 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 17, 1971), p. 140

[3] Fletcher, Canon J.R. (ed. Dom John Stéphan), Short history of Saint Michael’s Mount (St. Michael’s Mount, 1951), pp. 28, 31, 35

[4] London, V.C.M. (ed.), The cartulary of Canonsleigh Abbey (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 8, 1965), p. xvii, note 11

[5] Snell, L.S., The suppression of the religious foundations of Devon and Cornwall (Marazion, 1967), p. 134

[6] Fletcher (ed. Stéphan), Short history of Saint Michael’s Mount, pp. 39, 45, 48, 59

[7] Snell, The suppression of the religious foundations of Devon and Cornwall, pp. 120, 134

[8] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, p. xxi

[9] Elliott-Binns, L.E., Medieval Cornwall (London, 1955), p. 145

[10] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, nos. 32, 33

[11] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, no. 40

[12] Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall, p. 144

[13] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1348-1350, p. 107, 12^th June 1348

[14] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, p. xxi, no. 39

[15] Unwin, A., ‘The Water Mills of St. Keverne’, in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (1977) = available online at the St. Keverne Local History Society website.

[16] Polsue, J. (ed.), A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall (4 vols. Truro, 1867-1872), vol. II, p. 347

[17] Unwin, A., ‘The Water Mills of St. Keverne’, in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (1977)

[18] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, p. xxi. 61

[19] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, nos. 59, 63

[20] Elliott-Binns, L.E., Medieval Cornwall (London, 1955), p. 145

[21] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, no. 64

[22] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, p. xxi, no. 35

[23] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, no. 36

[24] Polsue (ed.), A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, vol. III, p. 275

[25] Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall, p. 145

[26] Hull (ed.), The cartulary of St. Michael’s Mount, p. xx, note 9

Millstones at the port of Exeter, 1266-1321

 

Millstones at the port of Exeter, 1266-1321

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

 

Mills played an important part in the medieval life as they helped prepare wheat, oats and barley for use in food and drink production.[1] Many medieval tenants were obliged to grind their corn at the manorial mill that they lived in. A charge of 13^th part of the corn delivered was usually retained for the miller. Many people had their own hand mills at home to grind their own corn but even with the cost, people preferred to go to the manorial mill because the mill used high quality mill stones and gave better results. 

Millstones usually need replacing every one to three years depending on how much business the mill was active. The three main sources of millstones for south-west England were from near Penselwood in Somerset, Welsh stones and stones from France. The millstones from France usually came into the ports of Southampton, Weymouth, Wareham and Topsham (on east side of the Exe River below Exeter). The cost of buying a millstone with the transport cost to bring it to the mill could be expensive and very variable depending on where the stone was brought and if it came from France, via what port it came into England. In 1257-8 the mills on Taunton manor purchased two French stones which cost £5 2s (five pounds and two shillings) including carriage. One stone that came through Wareham cost £2 11s 1d with transport to Taunton of 10s. Three Welsh stones with transport only cost £1 1s 6d but the French stones were of better quality.  Millstones from Somerset cost 19s 1d with 8s for transport. Towards the end of the thirteenth century the carriage of French stones through Southampton cost 15s by water and land.[2]

Southampton was one of the main ports on the English Channel at that time. Shippers liked to come into Southampton and tranship smaller cargos from there along the coast to the smaller ports like Exeter.[3] Southampton’s status made it very competitive compared to other ports. Two French millstones that came through Weymouth cost £1 11s 3d to transport to Taunton in Somerset. At Topsham a millstone purchased for Taunton cost £1 18s 4d including transport.[4] The Earl of Devon was lord of the port of Topsham and provided good storage facilities at the port along with an efficient land transport system beyond its bounds.[5] In 1263-4 the Exeter city council successfully won their legal case to collect two thirds of the custom at Topsham along with continuing to collect custom at their own port of Exmouth.[6]

French mill stone - photographer unknown

The landlord of the mill paid for the major capital expenses of construction and maintenance while the miller or the leasee paid for the day to day running costs and small essential expenses. But some landlords were able to reduce their contribution by getting their tenants to do the transport costs of carrying millstones from the quarries or the ports to the mill as at Calstock manor in Cornwall.[7]

The competitiveness of other ports meant that Exeter didn’t have a large trade in millstones. Between 1302 and 1320 five shipments of millstones were imported through Exeter but by the end of the century even this small trade had declined. In the ten years from 1381 to 1391 only two shipments of millstones came into Exeter.[8]

On 4^th September 1303 Walter le Fraunceys imported two pairs of millstones along with two bales of alum and 1½ dozen of cordwains. The cargo came in on board the La Wynnegod of Teignmouth with John Grigge as master. The vessel carried a varied cargo of woad, potash, canvas, cloth and alum for ten different merchants beside Walter le Fraunceys.[9] Alum was a whitish transparent mineral salt used in the dying of cloth.[10] The said Walter le Fraunceys was a resident of Exeter and at other times imported 18 tuns of wine (1298), I tun of wine (1299) and 2 tuns of wine (1302).[11] The shipment of the millstones was outside his usual trade and so he may well have had a customer at hand to sell on the goods.

In 1310-11 Pagan le Bruere (Brewer) imported two small millstones into Exeter on board the La Holoc de St Louis under Captain John Rydel. These two millstones were Pagan’s own trade on the vessel. Also on the vessel Pagan carried 80 stone welds, 4 bales of alum, 36 hats, 15 lanterns and 100 knives with Stephen le Ellecombe. The third merchant on the vessel, Walter de Mochard carried 2 bales of alum, 50 knives and 12 hats.[12] Pagan le Brewer was a resident of Exeter acquiring freedom of the borough in March 1299.[13] In 1302-3 he rented a shop from Exeter city council for 12d (twelve pence).[14] Pagan le Brewer imported a number of shipments over the years. These included woad, potash, stone weld, and cloth in 1305; 2 tuns of wine in 1305; another 1 tun of wine in 1305; 7 tuns of wine in 1318 and brass pans, mortars, iron, potash and onions among other items in 1317.[15] The two millstones may have being imported for a ready customer but considering the other goods imported by Pagan le Brewer over the years he may have purchased the stones to sell onwards at some future date.

In 1311 Richard Osanne, merchant and ship master, imported 1 millstone with a cargo of 30 quarters of wheat, 20 quarters of barley and 12 hundred weight of mackerel on his own ship called the La Osanne of Cabourg on the coast of Normandy.[16] Richard Osanne likely came direct from France to Exeter with his cargo to sell to anybody and everyone willing to buy it.

On 13^th August 1313 the last recorded shipment of millstones arrived in Exeter. These were 3 millstones and 20 tuns of woad imported by John le Someter on board the La Wake of Hook (near Warsash in Hampshire) under Captain Roger Walkelyn. On 23^rd August Robert de Doune paid 20s in custom charges for the cargo.[17] The cargo possibly arrived in Southampton on a larger vessel and was transhipped to Exeter on the La Wake. Robert de Doune was a resident of Exeter and imported a number of shipments over the years. These included 2 tuns of wine (1299), 2 tuns of wine (1301), 2 tuns of wine (1302), 1 tun of wine (1305) and 10 tuns of woad in 1316.[18] Woad was a yellow flowered plant from southern France that was used to made blue dye.[19] The later shipments suggest that Robert de Doune was moving away from being a small time wine importer to trading in woad and millstones from France.

The fifth shipment of millstones into Exeter occurred sometime between 1313 and 1321 but it was not recorded in the local custom accounts for Exeter. The low number of millstones coming into Exeter and the speculative nature of some of the recorded imports suggests that millers in the south-west of England acquired their prized French millstones via some other port.

 

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[1] Hunt, T.J. (ed.), The manors of Taunton and Bradford on Tone (Somerset Record Society, Vol. LXVI, 1962), p. xlv

[2] Hunt (ed.), The manors of Taunton and Bradford on Tone, p. xlix

[3] Kowaleski, M. (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 36, 1993), p. 16

[4] Hunt (ed.), The manors of Taunton and Bradford on Tone, p. xlix

[5] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, pp. 3, 6

[6] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, p. 16

[7] Hull, P.L. (ed.), The caption of seisin of the Duchy of Cornwall (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 17, 1971), p. 104

[8] Kowaleski, M., Local Markets and Regional Trade in Medieval Exeter (Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 230

[9] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, p. 79

[10] Flavin, S., & Jones, E.T. (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601: The evidence of the exchequer customs accounts (Bristol Record Society, Vol. 61, 2009), p. 943

[11] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, pp. 53, 60, 73

[12] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, p. 120

[13] Hoskins, W.G. (ed.), Exeter Freemen, 1266-1967 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, Extra Series, Vol. 1, 1973), p. 6

[14] Rowe, M.M., & Draisey, J.M. (eds.), The receiver’s accounts of the City of Exeter, 1304-1353 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 32, 1989), p. 92

[15] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, pp. 97, 101, 104, 157, 158

[16] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, p. 121

[17] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, p. 130

[18] Kowaleski (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321, pp. 60, 66, 72, 89, 139, 226

[19] Flavin & Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 963