MDE8992 - Dean Wood Cottage (Building)

Dean Wood Cottage is shown on the 6 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1890 [1]. At SS 6350 4558, in woodland, are the remains of a stone building adjacent to the modern path and 5 metres from an unnamed stream. The building occupies steep east facing slopes and has been cut into the slopes on its western or upslope side. Rectangular in shape, the building measures some 12.4 metres by 4 metres overall (11.6 metres by 3.2 metres internal). It has walls 0.6 metres thick and standing to a maximum height of 1.8 metres. It was originally two celled, and a gap in the eastern wall 0.7 metres wide gave access to the southern cell. The western and southern walls survive over their entire length whilst the northern wall is only 1.7 metres long, and the eastern wall survives only at its southern end. Revised at 1:2500. [2] The 25 inch Ordnance Survey map shows three buildings at this location. The central one is at SS 6349 4557 and is labelled Dean Wood Cottage; a further structure lies to the north at SS 6349 4559 and another to the southeast at SS 6351 4553, all along the same routeway. The other two buildings are not labelled and their function is not clear. [3] None of the buildings are depicted on the Tithe Map for Trentishoe and nor is the routeway they are adjacent to. [4] The outline of Dean Wood Cottage is depicted on the 2018 MasterMap data but the other two buildings are not visible. The track is still extant. [5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]