MSO8354 - Blackwell Farmstead, Treborough (Monument)

A deserted farmstead which in 1841 had an estate of 50 acres and a farmhouse but appears to have been deserted by the creation of the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888. Barns and sheds shown on the tithe map are still extant.

Characteristic small enclosures and field banks shown on OSAD 6 inch and 25 inch Ordnance Survey maps. [1,2] In 1841 this was an estate of 50 acres with a farmhouse. It is now deserted - there is a platform on the steep side on a north facing hill. Barns and sheds remain as shown in 1841 and to the east there is a large terraced platform with stone foundations and earthworks of the house site aligned north to south across the slope. [3,8] The site can be seen on aerial photographs. [4-6] It is not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888, it was presumably abandoned between the creation of this map and the Tithe Map. [7,8] A post medieval deserted settlement, known as Blackwell, is visible on aerial photographs as a series of small ruined buildings. The farm was inhabited in 1841, but as it is not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888, it was presumably abandoned between these two dates. A nearby water meadow and extant enclosure may be associated with the settlement. [7-10] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [11] The farmstead was the subject of historic building recording in 2026 [12]. The desk based assessment found that in the 1841 treborough Tithe Map [8], the farmstead was listed as belonging to Reverend Thomas Luttrell Fownes, and occupied by a tenant, Amos Tudball. The buildings are labelled as "Barton and Garden" which implies a lack of a central farmhouse. A neighbouring plot is listed as "cottages and garden" but this is no longer visible on aerial photography and its location is unclear. The report also uncovered a reference to the farmstead in the West Somerset Free Press of 4th January 1874, describes its destruction by fire. "A barn, some linhays, a hayrick and all the straw grown on the farm that year" were reported to have burned, with the fire thought to be caused by the carelessness of a boy lighting his pipe. There is an implication that the barns were not inhabited, with a suggestion that the fire smouldered for some time and was only reported by another neighbour, a William Nethercott.