MEM23152 - Hallslake Farm (Building)

The Tithe Map for Brendon shows a single small building at c. SS 7461 4805, at the edge of a field here. The parcel is 317 and this is labelled as Allslake Meadow, used for pasture but with no mention of the building. It may therefore have been a field barn. [1] By the time the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map was surveyed, the possible field barn had been removed and a pond is shown just to its southwest. The main farmhouse and outbuildings are now shown in a C shape, facing to the northwest, and labelled Hallslake. This arrangement is repeated on the 2nd Edition map. Since this date, several larger buildings have been constructed around the site but the pond has been removed. [2-4] The site was visited in January 1997. The house was described as 19th or 20th Century in date, with a large classic mid 19th Century barn at right angles to it. A scattering of other buildings was also mentioned, with two largish 20th Century (but not recent) buildings also featuring. [5] A study of the archaeology and history of peat exploitation on Exmoor’s moorlands mentions that the turf store at this farm was an outbuilding across the yard from the kitchen. [6] "Haleslake" is mentioned in a letter from John Mogridge to Frederic Winn Knight dated 16 February 1846. The letter states that: "I have this day had two parties to look at Brendon Barton. The whole of which is too much for either of them. If divided I purpose to let as Haleslake [sic - Hallslake] the land North of the Old Linton Road and bounded on the East by the lane that runs to Broad-way Foot [Broad-ways-feet] Gate. The remainder to be then Barton Farm." [7]