MSO7635 - Hindon Farm, Bratton (Monument)

A farm alleged to be of early Anglo-Saxon origin. It is shown on the Minehead tithe map of 1843. The farm buildings range in date from the 17th Century onwards. The farmhouse may be a 19th Century rebuild of a much earlier building.

SS 933466. Hindon Farm is one of the oldest farms in the area, dating to at least the early Anglo-Saxon period. [1] The farmstead is shown on the tithe map for Minehead. [2] The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map shows the farmstead includes kennels (at c. SS 9332 4670) and quarries. [3] The quarries are not mentioned on the 2nd Edition map. The kennels building is drawn but not labelled. [4] The farmstead was surveyed by the National Trust in 1996. The farmhouse is recorded as having a three cell, cross-passage plan with a rear wing and an extension. It is rendered and limewashed with a black tar band, using slate roofs with collared ridge tiles and asbestos slate on the first floor rear lean to. Most of the chimneys include brick. It contains reed and plaster ceilings and quarry tile floors in several rooms. Several of the fireplaces have ovens, four rooms have 18th Century two panel doors and the larder contains possible slate shelving. The report suggests the original farmhouse dated from the 15th or 16th Century (or possibly earlier), with the rear wing added in the late 16th or early 17th Century and the main house being rebuilt in the early 19th Century, with its original plan and the rear wing retained. The two storey rear extension is presumed to have been added soon after to provide a working back kitchen, with cream and bake ovens. The report also mentions a number of other buildings, including a Dairy / Cider House / Stock Housing building dating from the 17th or 18th Century, a mid 19th Century linhay, a ruined threshing barn and roundhouse dating from the mid 19th Century and a ruined barn, court and cottage dating from the 17th or 18th Century. [5]