MSO11278 - Post-medieval water wheel at Stone Farm (Monument)

Water wheel and millpond. Metal flume to overshot wheel and outside running gear. Remains of wheel pit and bearings. Leat supplied a millpond - water taken from headwaters of River Quarne (SS 860 406) on Hoar Moor and across Prescott Down for 1600 feet. Then stone lined channel for 700 feet to mill. Some evidence that a second wheel existed below the first. Cast iron nameplate 'C Phillips, machinist and wheelwright, Bridgetown' found on site. [1] The mapping evidence gives some understanding for the direction of water flow and which building houses the water wheel. Two ponds are marked on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps, which still appear to be extant. The smaller is at SS 8654 3890; this may have been the upstream pond that fed the wheel. A leat is shown on the maps leaving the pond at SS 8653 3889 and leading to a small structure at , adjacent to the farm buildings; it is possible that this was the wheel pit, although this requires confirmation. The path of the water is then not marked but a further, much larger pond is the shown at SS 8648 3884; this has a leat shown leaving the pond where a sluice is marked at SS 8648 3882 and the leat is shown with the direction of flow away from the pond. [2,3] Only the lower, larger pond is shown on the Exford Tithe Map and no mention of a mill is made in the accompanying Apportionment document. [4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]