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Summary

Powdermills farmstead shown on 19th century maps including a large number of buildings in an irregular shaped yard with five small enclosures to the south

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork remains of streamworking, peat working and associated leats west of Powder Mills Cottages

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/340
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMSTEAD (XVIII to XXI - 1751 AD to 2009 AD)

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Large number of buildings shown on 19th century map with a 'Spring' shown to the south-west.

Pye, A. R. + Robinson, R., 1990, An Archaeological Survey of the Gunpowder Factory at Powdermills Farm, Postbridge, Devon, 1 (Report - Survey). SDV254157.

Dawson, T. + Hambley, J., 1995, A Survey of the Service and Accommodation Buildings belonging to the Powdermills Gunpowder Factory, Postbridge, 2 (Report - Survey). SDV351071.

Powdermills Farmstead shown on 19th century maps with four recatngular buildings. These include the Cooperage, the Manager's House with a garden at the front and a range of cottages to the west each with small enclosed gardens or yard to the front. To the west a separate rectangular building may represent the school recorded in 1861.

White, P., 2013, Previously Unsurveyed Dartmoor Historic Farmsteads, Powder Mills (Un-published). SDV352501.

Powder Mills farmstead.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

'Powder Mills Farm' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2016, National Heritage List for England, 1389622 (National Heritage List for England). SDV359353.

Powdermills farmhouse and attached former cooperage, rear farm building, and front garden walls are listed buildings. The gunpowder works was operating by 1846, supplying mining and quarrying interests, and closed in 1897. The gunpowder factory and its associated grouping of housing and workshops is a prominent feature of the moorland landscape east of Lydford. It is also one of the best-preserved water-driven powder works of the period, the remains of the works to the north being a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Although the workers' housing has been too altered to merit listing, the manager's house is one of the best surviving examples associated with this industry the attached cooperage, distinguished by its fenestration and one of the key functional buildings of a powder works where powder barrels were stored and manufactured, is the best surviving example associated with this industry in England.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8644 - Cherrybrook and Longford Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8645 - Powder Mills and Gawler Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.