AN historic Exmoor mill with links dating to King Harold, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king, is the subject of a first novel written by high-end furniture maker Powers Ian Mawby, who used to own the property.

Mr Mawby, aged 82, who overcame dyslexia to write the book, sold Pulhams Mill, near Brompton Regis, after 42 years and now runs a shop with partner Pauline Clements in Tiverton, Devon.

He returned to the craft centre and tearoom’s performance art venue Green Oak Barn for the launch of the book, titled ‘The Spirits of Pulhams Mill’, with an open house featuring food and music through the ages.

Lynette Turner has her copy of the book signed by Powers Ian Mawby.
Lynette Turner has her copy of the book signed by Powers Ian Mawby. PHOTO: George Ody. ( )

He describes the book as a ‘fast moving entertaining fictional history’ covering a thousand years of the mill’s history and telling the story of spirits which have inhabited it over the centuries.

The launch included a reading of the ‘Spirit of Anna Miller’ by Mary Sutcliffe, which Mr Mawby said was ‘very special as she brought my words to life’.

He said: “The whole occasion was a cathartic experience for me as the author, and I want to publicly thank all of them, Foxwillow Martin, Celia, Hazel Prior, John Middleton, John Lowday, Arwen Bethy, Jools, Sam Gibbs, Peter Hanlon, Gary and Sabine Cooper.”

Pulhams Mill is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was bought in 1978 by Mr Mawby, who spent decades developing it from a ‘romantic ruin’ to a successful and popular visitor destination.

During the years he became familiar with stories of ghosts or spirits which were said to haunt the property, and when he came to sell up he had to bring in a shaman, classical concert pianist and friend Gary Cooper, to banish at least five of them before he could find a buyer at auction.

So, the book includes several dramatic local ‘factional’ stories of the spirits of those who died at Pulhams Mill through the ages.

Powers Ian Mawby signs a copy of his book for artist David Jessup.
Powers Ian Mawby signs a copy of his book for artist David Jessup. PHOTO: George Ody. ( )

They date to 1086 and the mother of King Harold, Gytha of Wessex, who lived in a nearby manor, and the eldest son of the miller who was wounded in the Battle of Hastings and later died in the mill.

In 1490 it was haunted by the spirit of the miller’s gambling second son.

In the 1600s there was the miller’s eldest daughter Anna, who moved to Watchet and married the St Decuman’s vicar, gave birth to a daughter on the roof of her cottage, and survived the 1607 ‘Somerset tsunami’ only to return to the mill and die from exposure.

Another spirit was said to be Jerry Winzor a criminal, rapist, deserter, and also a French Resistance hero in 1941 to 1945.

Mr Mawby said: “Although my stories are fiction, they have a lot of local interest based on historical facts.”

He said dramatic factual events over the centuries were told with ‘a light touch but descriptive narrative’ showing how events affected the lives of mill inhabitants, the local community, and the social fabric of an isolated Exmoor village.