Monument record MDO19935 - Court Mills, West Street, Bridport

The Court Mills are the largest and oldest textile mill complex in Bridport. It was a centre of cordage and netting production throughout the 19th and 20th century, developing into an extensive complex of steam-powered buildings and sheds along with open and covered walks. The site includes a late 19th century fireproof warehouse, an engine house and extensive sheds used for the manufacture of net, rope and twine. There are also some 20th century buildings and several buildings show evidence of modification and re-use.

The Court Mills are the largest and oldest textile mill complex in Bridport and was associated with Bridport-Gundry (a late 20th-century amalgamation of Bridport’s surviving textile manufacturers) until the 1990s. The company has been in existence since 1665 and in the 1762, Joseph Gundry had occupied part of the site. It was a centre of cordage and netting production throughout the 19th and 20th century, developing into an extensive complex of steam-powered buildings and sheds along with open and covered walks. <8> <9> An insurance valuation of 1766 describes Joseph Gundry as a twine spinner, sailcloth maker, malster and brewer and includes specific reference to 'utensils and stock of hemp and flax in his warehouse near West Mill' together with other premises including booking and combing houses. <6> The oldest surviving building, the Court House, is located at the South entrance to the complex and probably originated as a warehouse or workshop in the late 18th century, but is now used as offices. Hutchins map of 1774 shows an L-shaped building in this location <1>. Several extensions were added later, two of which are dated 1838 and 1844. Hutchins map also shows another L-shaped building to the east and a smaller building behind forming a small courtyard, but these buildings had been demolished by 1845 as they are not shown on the Tithe Map <2>. In the early 19th century the site was not water- or steam-powered, as the firm was primarily a putting-out business, using flax twine from Pymore Mills <8>. One early 19th century building, shown on the 1845 Tithe Map, still survives to the north of West Mill. This is a red brick warehouse or workshop, which is Grade II Listed as ‘The Maintenance Department, Court Mills’. From the mid-19th century Court Mills was expanded in several phases, as can be seen from the historic Ordnance Survey maps <3-5>. The main part of the mills lay in the northern part of the site and comprised an extensive complex of one- and two-storeyed sheds built for spinning, netmaking machines and the finishing of twine and nets, with a central engine and boiler house. The 1890 Ordnance Survey 25-inch map shows the late 19th century layout of the mills with a series of large sheds in the NE part of the site and an open air ‘Stretching Path’ running transversely across the site between the buildings on West Street and the large sheds behind. The rest of the site is taken up with a small timber yard and extensive Drying Grounds <3>. The 1902 and 1930 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps show the development of the Mills during the early and 20th century with the same basic layout of the site but with the gradual enlargement of the industrial buildings in the NE part of the site, including the demolition of some of the earlier buildings and their replacement with large north-light sheds <4> <5>. In the late 1850s and 1860s a number of new buildings and machines were built at Court Mills by John Payne of Chard. Many of the buildings were destroyed by fire in 1949 and were replaced by the modern factory in 1963 <6>. Within the main part of the mill complex is a mid 19th century stone-built Engineer’s Shop, which is Bridport's only surviving example of mid-late 19th century fireproof construction <9>. The 19th century square brick chimney has now been demolished.

Record last edited

Dec 21 2022 3:26PM