DAT612 – Visit to Slade’s Sawmill/Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum

As part of my research for my final year project at Plymouth University, I contacted the Plymouth Archaeological Society to see if their members had any suggestions for heritage sites that might potentially be appropriate for photogrammetry and digital restoration.

A member of the Society suggested the now derelict saw mill that stands at the head of Waterhead Creek near South Pool in Devon.  I was also advised that the Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum held archive photographs of the mill when it was a going concern. Today, I decided to investigate further.

Some photos from the now overgrown and derelict saw mill site.

Following my muddy visit to the saw mill site, I paid a visit to the resource centre at the Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum. With the help of the staff, I was able to view the range of photographs of the mill. Unfortunately, the majority of them were, for one reason or another, unusable; the most useful image is from this postcard of a painting of the mill dating from the early 1900s:

The lack of detailed photographs makes a digital restoration challenging. However, the staff at the museum provided me with the details of the Devon Rural Archive where there may be further material available – a visit for another day.