 A leat runs to the east of the town 's main street but it is uncertain when it was first constructed . By the early seventeenth @-@ century the southern end of the leat and one mill are shown on a map . There were three main mills : Higher Mill , Lower Mill and Middle Mill . Higher Mill appears to have always been a corn mill and it continued to produce animal feed until 1974 . It has since been converted to housing but a water turbine remains . Middle Mill was used as a woollen mill in the nineteenth century and was also associated with Bilbie ’ s bell foundry ( see below ) . Around 1900 , the mill was steam powered and had a boiler delivered . It is labelled as an axle works on the 1904 Second Edition Ordnance Survey map . The only remains of Middle Mill are some walls and a chimney base . Lower Mill ceased working in 1968 . The building is now in residential use but the sluices ( made by <unk> and Gunn of the Lowman Ironworks , Tiverton ) can still be seen , as can the water wheel and gearing . 
