Modern watermill.


A watermill is presumed to have existed at Bishopscourt farm for at least a century and a half on the basis of the presence of a 220m-long leat marked on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869.


The leat, controlled by a sluice marked near the northern end of the dam, draws water from the lower of two millponds in the Bishop's Glen. It leads to the rear of an outbuilding (centred at the grid reference provided) forming part of the farmstead, and a short tailrace is shown issuing from the gable of the building, from where it rejoins the main watercourse. An additional channel is shown running along the rear wall of the building to carry any waterflow when the mill was not in use.


Modern mapping (2017) annotates the building as 'Mill (Disused)'.


The mill presumably served latterly to process farm produce. Any predecessor on the site may have additionally processed grain collected as the bishop's tithe. A document recording a parochial perambulation in 1677 mentions the existence of a mill.