MSO11581 - Late 19th or early 20th Century saw mills at Holnicote (Monument)

"Saw mills" printed on 25 inch 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map. [1] Part of the leat remains and a covered wheel well the north side of the building. Mill has machinery remaining. Disused turbine in wheel pit. [2] Was an overshot wheel 14 feet in diameter and 2.5 feet wide. Turbines in wheel pit built by Stenner and Gunn of Tiverton. [3] Granary also near by. [4] The site is also marked on the 25 inch 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map, although not on the 1st Edition map. Various leats are controlled by a sluice at c. SS 9117 4625 and run to a rectangular feature at SS 9111 4626, which may or may not be the wheel pit (this feature is also present on 2018 MasterMap data). A tank is also recorded at SS 9116 4625 (again also shown on the 2018 map data) and may or may not be part of the saw mills complex. [5-7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8] The sawmill is mentioned in a publication on the industrial archaeology of Somerset. It states that there is a sawmill building with sawdust hopper, a joiners shop originally powered by a water wheel, lime pits, granary and other features. The turbine that replaced the wheel is still extant in the old wheelpit, installed by Stenner and Gunn of Tiverton in the early 20th Century. [9]