| Summary: | (July 2013) The wheelwright's shop at Walkhampton represents a unique survival of a water-powered rural workshop. The ground floor of the main, stone-built building was the machine whop with some machines belt-driven from overhead shafting by the waterwheel. Immediately east of the machine shop was a forge and there was also a large shed, clad with corrugated iron on the west side which enclosed the waterwheel and was used for sawing large timbers, assembly and storage. The first floor of the main building was also used for storage. The large shed was removed and the area to the north and west developed for housing in 1986. The first floor of the workshop was converted to domestic use in 1998-9. The ground floor was also partially modernised but still contains some of the original specialist wheelwrighting machines and overhead shafts and pulleys. The waterwheel is said to date from the establishment of the wheelwright’s shop by Philip Veale in 1845. It has not been run for some time but appears relatively stable. The launder, which carried water from the stream alongside the buildings to the top of the waterwheel, is unusually long, about 37 metres in length. Much of its upstream end, however, has been removed recently as a result of decay and flood damage. Parts of the stream walling and the launder supports have also suffered decay, exacerbated by silt and debris build up along the stream.
Despite surrounding housing development and the partial conversion of the wheelwright’s shop enough remains, including machinery within the ground floor workshop and the waterwheel with a potentially live water supply, to make its continued survival and retention important. |
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