MSO8523 - Road deserted farmstead, Winsford (Monument)

The medieval origin of Road farmstead is implied by the Lay Subsidy of 1327. Buildings are shown on the Tithe Map of 1839. The site is visible as substantial earthworks comprising the remains of three building platforms and a pond.

Road, Winsford, SS 860 375. Extensive earthworks and enclosures remain of this medieval farm site. [1,2] Building and paddocks named 'Road Linhay' at SS 8602 3748 on 1962 six inch Ordnance Survey map. [3] John atte Rode recorded in 1327 Lay subsidy. [4] In 1839 this was an estate of 239 acres. [5] On the ground there are very good earthworks of the farm buildings and other enclosures. [6] Substantial earthworks lie on the edge of a steep coombe in the Exe valley, 250 metres southwest of Road Castle, at SS 8604 3747. The site comprises the remains of three building platforms and a pond. The western platform is 6 metres by 3 metres, and has a small adjoining close. A smaller platform, 3.2 metres by 5.15 metres lies to the east of this, close to a hedge bank. A third platform lies some 25 metres to the east, terraced sharply into the hillside, with overall measurements of 11 metres by 7.5 metres. A length of retaining wall visible on the eastern side measures 2.8 metres long and 0.7 metres high. The southwest corner has been damaged by a fallen tree. The map evidence outlined below and the earthworks suggest that this is the site of a linhay. Ten metres to the south is a large pond, 15 metres north to south, formed by a curving, stone faced retaining bank, 1.4 metres high on the lower side. The area between the pond and the largest building platform is badly disturbed by poaching. [7] The documentary evidence referred to by [6] suggests a medieval origin for this site. The map evidence indicates that the earthworks are the remains of buildings which were extant in the late 19th and early 20th Century. An early 19th Century map shows at least two buildings named as "Road" [8]. The Tithe Map and Award of 1839 clearly shows buildings occupying the three platforms described above. The pond is also depicted. It was part of the holding of Road and Room Hills [5]. By the end of the 19th Century the site is called "Road Linhay" and only two of the buildings are still in use [9]. In the early 20th Century Road Linhay consists of only one building and the pond [10]. The documentary evidence therefore suggests a farm with medieval origins, which underwent a change of use from a farm to an outfarm. This may already have happened by the middle of the 19th Century, as the layout of the buildings on the Tithe Map of 1839 is much the same as that on the Ordnance Survey map of 1887. This change had certainly happened by 1887, and the outfarm fell into disuse sometime after 1902. [7?,11] 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]