Exwick's Industry
Exwick Mill
Milling has been important in Exwick since the Saxon times and continued to be so until the middle of the 20th Century. Just north of Exeter, at Cowley, The River Creedy joins the River Exe and the water funnels down towards the sea between the surrounding hills of Exwick and Duryard before spreading out into the wide flood plain between Exeter and St Thomas. A mill at Exwick was mentioned in the Domesday book and as long ago as 1189 the monks of Cowick Priory purchased 2 acres of land from Duryard in order to build a weir for Exwick leat, to supply water for Exwick Mill.
Exwick weir is on the River Creedy about one mile north of Exwick, just north of Weircliff House. The leat runs from the weir down the western side of the river valley from Cowley, past Exwick Barton and then alongside St Andrews Road to the mill [Higher Mill]. It once carried on through Exwick, past two more mills and then rejoined the River Exe about a quarter of a mile south of Exwick, but when the Exeter Flood Relief scheme was built in the 1970's the leat was cut short and filled in just south of the Mill. It is possible to see the leat for some of its route from St Andrews Road, and the current outlet into the River Exe can be seen by walking along the western side of the flood relief channel and then the river bank until you reach the mill's boundary. At one time the leat was a fast flowing stream, known for its fishing, but I doubt if anyone bothers to fish it nowadays.
There have been many mills in Exwick over the ages. Initially all of the mills would probably have been grain (or grist) mills but during the late 17th century a large wool trade built up in Exeter and one of Exwick's mills [Lower Mill] was rebuilt as a fulling mill (a fulling mill is used to make woollen felt).
Distant view of Exwick Mill
The Higher Mill can be seen on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map, which shows it as being on the site of St Andrews Priory Mills (St Andrews Priory was part of Cowick Priory). This would probably have been the new mill complex, built in 1886 on the site of the old mills by W. R. Mallett, a local flour miller. (These were also known as Malletts Mills.) This remained in operation until 1958 and the mill building is still standing today, although it is reportedly in poor repair.
The Lower Mills were situated just opposite the entrance to Exwick Hill on the other side of St Andrews Road. They are shown as a corn mill on early Ordnance Survey maps but by the time of the 4th Edition (1930's) they are shown as a laundry. The laundry burnt down in 1941, although some of the workers' cottages still survive (Cottage No.1 and Cottage No.2 Riverview Drive were originally known as Laundry Cottages).
In the late 18th Century a partnership of local businessmen acquired Exwick Manor and several acres of farm land below the Lower Mill and set about expanding the cloth manufacturing industry in Exwick. A new woollen mill, dye house and washing house were built, and on Exwick Hill a rackfield (for drying the cloth) was laid out, together with a courtyard of buildings used to process the cloth. Houses were built for the workers and around 1820 one of the partners (Edward Banfill) built himself a new Exwick House which can still be seen in Exwick Court, although it has now been turned into flats.
In the 19th Century the cloth business declined and the bleaching house, press shop and other buildings used to process the cloth were redeveloped as housing and the old courtyard now forms The Square on Exwick Hill. Some of the old mill houses still exist (numbers 1 to 5 and 7 & 8 St Andrews Road), but there is no record of the woollen mill itself after 1862, when it was advertised for sale.
There is much more information about Exwick's mills, including some fascinating pictures, on the Mills of Exwick page of David Cornforth's excellent Exeter Memories website.
Exeter's first plant bakery was built in Exwick during the middle of the 20th Century between Exwick Road and the River Exe, behind Exwick Villas. This was originally owned by the Exeter firm of Hill, Palmer and Edwards, who moved their bakery from Newtown to Exwick. The bakery was later taken over by British Bakeries (Rank Hovis McDougall) and used to produce 'Mother's Pride' bread. It was closed in 1993 and the site has now been redeveloped into a small estate of houses (Old Bakery Close).
There are no major industries in Exwick now, as far as I am aware. For a long while there was an international degaussing firm (degaussing is a technique used to remove information from magnetic media) called Weircliffe International Ltd located in St Andrews Road, but the site is now occupied by a local reclamation firm - Imperial Demolition Ltd.
Much of the information on this page comes from 'Discovering Exeter 6/West of the River by Hazel Harvey' and Exeter City Council's Exwick Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, with corrections to some of the information given in those documents suggested by David Cornforth of Exeter Memories.