MSO11512 - Probable post-medieval cottage to west of Leigh Barton Farm (Monument)

Dr A.W.G Court reports a mill here. [1] An isolated building is marked on the OSAD 6 inch and OS 1:10,000 maps. [2] A building in Broadfield Wood, west of Leigh Barton, was recorded in Somerset SMR as a mill. The building lies at ST 0202 3581. It is a rectangular, two-storied structure, 9.3x4.4m, made of mortared local stone with a slate roof. A door faces the track on the N elevation; opeings for 5 windows are on the S elevation. The building has two chimneys and a slate bread oven on the eastern end. The remains of a small stone building, 6.7x3.6m, lie close to track, east of the main building, at ST 0205 3581. The area is overgrown but there appears to be no evidence of any leats, a wheel pit or other features to suggest a mill. It is not named on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition map [4]. The building is best interpreted as a derelict cottage; a photograph taken in the early part of this century supports this. The cottage was apparently abandoned in the 1960s [5]. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7] Additional bibliography. [8] The building is discussed in the 2015 Exmoor Farmsteads Conservation Area Appraisal. It is described as an an unoccupied cottage in woodland, probably 19th Century in date and essentially a shell. It has a bread oven abutting its gable end. In 2014 it had recently been reroofed. [9]