“There was no leaf upon the forest bare, No flower upon the ground, And little motion in the air Except the mill-wheel’s sound” (Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 – 1822)
Although the Ice Age didn’t reach south Devon, on coastal slopes and some inland valley sides in the South Hams, silts, mainly stone, were left when the permafrost melted. This material called “head” can be found on valley sides at Strete Gate along the Gara Brook. From about 10,000 years ago banks of shingle began to build up at the mouths of slow-moving streams like the Gara Brook. Smaller streams became choked with shingle with “lagoons” being formed behind them. The Gara Brook would have flowed through a natural channel at Strete Gate and the lagoons became the Higher and Lower Leys. In 1856 a weir and culvert were constructed at Torcross to remove the risk of water from the Leys breaching or overflowing the shingle ridge and allowed construction of a toll road.
It is thought that a road ran from Start Point to Dartmouth along the coast most likely for the trade of fish, meat etc. A road where the Line now stands ran the length of the shingle ridge, possibly in medieval times. The shingle bank was called Green Street in 1841 and a causeway was built along there using stone from Goldswell slate quarry. Goldswell was a small community probably on the site of a holy well and may have been an illegal tenement of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1609 there were two farmsteads and in 1886 they were still there.
The mill-wheel’s sound is seldom heard nowadays but water-power played an important part in the livelihood of rural areas in past centuries. Domesday Book mentions no mills in Strete but in 1307, a manor in Slapton parish had a mill for corn-grinding and for “fulling”. Sheep farming must have been popular because “fulling” involved beating woollen cloth to flatten the weave. Each manor had its own mill where tenants were obliged to grind their corn, the intention being tenants then were assured to pay rent. When cash payments replaced rent for corn, tenants had to pay for their own grinding!
By 1740 there were three mills on the Gara Brook dividing the parishes of Slapton and Strete (then Blackawton parish) and the water supply was strong enough for the running of the mills to be efficient. The three mills were Gara Mill, Higher and Lower North Mill at Hansel. Forder Mill and Millcombe Mill were also on the Gara Brook and these five mills would grind corn from all the farms between Blackpool to East Allington and to Chillington in the south.
The road bridge over the Gara north of Higher North Mill was built of stone rubble probably in the early 19th century. It is a small two-span bridge. Unfortunately the bridge carrying a track over the Gara at Lower North Mill is no longer there but it carried three datestones – 1633, 1717 and 1808. This bridge was also made of local slate rubble and had a single span.
About a quarter of a mile up the track from Gull corner, a wooden bridge crosses the Gara Brook and ruins of cottages could be seen there until a few years ago. Goldswell or Gull Quarry is a short distance further on, no longer in use but which provided slate and stone for houses and stonewalls in times past. In the 1920’s a house past the quarry with a strange name “Rhynska” was a holiday home – this may have been part of the original Goldswell farmsteads. “Rhynska” was used during the summer months and my maternal grandparents looked after the property when it was unoccupied. I have a letter of thanks from the Madan family saying the house was to revert to the owners, the Toll family in 1925 and with the letter a gift of two silver salt cellars and spoons for my grandparents’ care of “Rhynska”.
The earliest reference I have found about the Gara Brook was in 1244 when it was known as the “aqua de Slaptone”.
Jean Parnell
This article first appeared in the Strete Village magazine StreteWise
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© Blackawton and Strete History Group 2008 |