Countess Wear Paper Mill
Topsham Museum
When: 30 March 2019 to 31 October 2019
Where: Topsham Museum
Time: 1400 - 1700
Cost: None
Suitable for: Any age
The main exhibition this year is the Countess Wear Paper Mill, which produced paper for newsprint and bank notes from around 1650 until 1885. John Dunsford has done much of the research for this exhibition, assisted by Mark Dant. Do come along and learn where the mill was, how it prospered and why it declined. We are exhibiting the model made by an apprentice at the mill in the 1800s.
In the nineteenth century, paper making was well established at Countess Wear; the earliest reference to a mill on St James' Weir leat was in 1563 when John Trew considered the leat as a possible route for the canal, an idea abandoned, partly because of the expense of compensating the mill owner. The leat had been in existence since the establishing by the Cluniac Priory on the land of Isca College, of a grist mill. The use of the site as a paper mill dates from before 1750. It was destroyed by fire twice, and two of the owners committed suicide during the nineteenth century. In 1842, Thomas Whitaker merged two of the arches of Countess Wear bridge for Robert Davy, allowing his barges of coal access to the paper mill. The paper mill continued production until 1885 when it closed and the site was dismantled.
Elsewhere in the Museum:
In the tea room, there are photographs showing Countess Wear scenes, to support the main Paper Mill exhibition.
The plinth in the Sail Loft will be used for children’s activities during the school holidays, while in term-time until July, the Trefoil Guild are mounting a display to celebrate their story.
Sections of the ‘Topsham in the 1920s’ audio tapes which featured in this year’s Topsham Times, are being compiled to form an audio-visual show on one of the Museum’s screens.
We hope you will visit our new exhibitions! We look forward to welcoming you to Topsham Museum.
Exhibition Gallery
Exhibitions & Projects
-
Six Weeks To Go
Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum
31 March 2025 to 31 October 2025
-
Kingsbridge 1939 1945 : The Image and the Place
Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum
31 March 2025 to 31 October 2025
-
Battle of Britain Anniversary Exhibition and Talk Series
Exmouth Museum and Heritage Centre registered charity 291311
08 April 2025 to 01 November 2025
-
Jyll Bradley: Running and Returning
The Box, Plymouth
05 April 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Coastal Threads: Textile Art
Fairlynch Museum Budleigh Salterton
01 May 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Jyll Bradley: Life and Influences
The Box, Plymouth
05 April 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Westward Ho! and Bideford Art Society Annual Open Exhibition
27 September 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Earth Action North Devon: Explorers Create!
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
11 October 2025 to 22 November 2025
-
50 Years of the Signpost Magazine
Bampton Heritage and Visitor Centre
18 September 2025 to 20 December 2025
-
Dinosaurs, Dragons and Monsters
Bill Douglas Centre
29 August 2025 to 23 December 2025
-
Northern Devon Innovates
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
25 October 2025 to 03 January 2026
-
Wild
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
26 July 2025 to 04 January 2026
-
_web.jpg&w=600&h=400&zc=1)
William Cobbing: Dumb mud, I love you
The Burton at Bideford
11 October 2025 to 10 January 2026
-
Remember Respond Resist
The Box, Plymouth
04 October 2025 to 11 January 2026
-
Carolyn Lefley: Ancient Sea
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
29 July 2025 to 25 January 2026
-
This is me Call for entries: Documentary Photography Open 2026
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
01 December 2025 to 11 April 2026
-
Call for entries Young Digital Documentary Photography Open
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
01 December 2025 to 11 April 2026
