| Bucks Mills | |
|---|---|
 The "Gut" blasted from the rocks on Bucks Mills beach. | |
  Bucks Mills Location withinDevon | |
| OS grid reference | SS357233 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | EX35 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| 50°59′11″N4°20′30″W / 50.9863°N 4.3418°W /50.9863; -4.3418 | |
Bucks Mills is a small English village within the parish ofWoolfardisworthy on the north coast ofDevon. It was anciently the mill of themanor of Bucks, ancientlyBokish,[1] Buckish,[2]Bochewis etc., listed in theDomesday Book of 1086 asBochewis.[3] The village is within theNorth Devon CoastArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty and on theSouth West Coast Path.
Next to the village is Bucks Woods which includes the site of theIron Agehill fort atPeppercombe Castle.
The stream which runs through the village powered at least one mill. It falls over the cliff edge in a waterfall onto the beach which has large pebbles and hardsandstone formations. In theElizabethan era a break in the rocks, known as the Gut, was created byRichard Cole (1568-1614), lord of the manor of Bucks, by blasting the rock with gunpowder to allow access to the small harbour built by him,[4] which has since disappeared, creating a small harbour for fishing vessels. In the 18th century this was used for the import ofculm, a mixture ofanthracite andlimestone which was burnt in kilns to produce fertiliser.[5] The remains of two of the lime kilns can be seen on either side of the beach access.[6][7]
In the 18th and 19th centuries many of the residents of Bucks Mills and the surrounding villages were related to the Braund family and King Cottage within Bucks Mills was once the home of Captain James Braund who was informally known as the "King of Bucks".[8]
St Anne's Church was built in 1862.[9] The church was endowed by a Mrs Elwes, theLord of the Manor ofWalland Cary, the estate on which the village stood.[8]
At Bucks Mill Cabin resided artistMary Stella Edwards andJudith Ackland.[10]
Hosted many child evacuees from London during World War 2, including actress
Prunella Scales (as featured in the "Bristol & the West Country" episode of "Great Canal Journeys" tv series)
TheDomesday Book of 1086 listsBochewis as the 2nd of the 27 Devonshire holdings ofTheobald FitzBerner (fl.1086),[3] one of theDevon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of KingWilliam the Conqueror. He held itin-demesne. Before theNorman Conquest of 1066 it had been held jointly by three Anglo-Saxonthanes.[11] The ancient manor is today represented by Bucks Mills and Bucks Cross.[12] During the reign of King Edward I (1272-1307) the manor of Bucks, together withWallen (laterWallen Cary, held by the Cary family,lords of the nearbyManor of Clovelly), was held by Henry de Wallen. During the reign of King Edward II (1307-1327) Stephen de Wallen granted to Robert Stockey and his heirs that their tenement of Potesford and Bulkworthy should have a right-of-way for ever upon his land ofBokish andWallen, for the purposes of carrying "sea-oar" (some type of mineralore) and sand from the sea "with all carriages whatsoever", which deed was witnessed by Matthew Crawthorne,Joel Pollard,Gilbert Wibbery and Walter Beaple.[4] The manor was later acquired by means unknown by the Cole family of Slade in the parish ofCornworthy in Devon, a branch of Cole ofNethway[13] in the parish ofBrixham in Devon, one of whom wasJohn Cole (born c.1376), twice aMember of Parliament forDevon, in 1417 and 1423 andSheriff of Devon 1405–6.[14] The last of the Coles of Bucks wasRichard Cole (1568-1614), also of Slade, who died without progeny and whose large and elaborate monument with effigy dressed in armour survives in All Hallows Church, Woolsfardisworthy. His near contemporary the Devonshire historianRisdon (d.1640) (whose grandfather lived nearby atBableigh, Parkham[15]) stated of him:"Richard Cole, the last of that family that dwelt at Bokish, erected a harbour in his land, there to shelter ships and boats".[1] This is now known as theOld Quay at Bucks Mills,[16] This structure was built after he had blasted out the rock with gunpowder to leave a sandy inlet known as "The Gut" or "Gutway".[17] Remains of the quay are visible at low-tide.[18]
Media related toBucks Mills at Wikimedia Commons
