| Summary: | South West Archaeology Ltd. was commissioned to undertake historic building appraisal and produce a heritage impact assessment for Batson Hall Farm, Batson, Salcombe, Devon. The initial work was undertaken in June 2019 in order to determine the impact of constructing a new building in close proximity to the listed buildings and assess whether further recording work is necessary prior to a programme of refurbishment to these buildings. A second site visit was made in February 2020 to appraise the rest of the farmhouse which had not been accessed due to health and safety concerns. The new build project is no longer being included within the work scope, with the project instead going to move forward with renovating the existing buildings on the site.
The buildings at Batson Hall Farm are listed as a group, with three distinct buildings and a number of ruined structures and linking walls all noted under one entry, at Grade II status. The listing text records that they are 17th century or earlier. The buildings lie on the site of a former manor house and have a group value as cumulatively they are worthy of protection but individually have each been compromised. The building range has been completely stripped out and modernised in the later 20th century, the 1970s or 1980s. All historic details have been removed. The ruins are far more authentic but hampered by the previous dense planting of the gardens and a lack of maintenance over the last few decades has led to their further decline in condition and therefore historic integrity since their Listing. The Batson Conservation Area encloses Baton Hall Farm and runs down the lane to the village green, encompassing: the green, the creek and running up the main street enclosing most of Lower Batson.
The overall impact of any renovation works, primarily restricted to the derelict interior of the farmhouse and firedamaged cottage, can be assessed as negligible, as the cottage is wholly 19th century and of low value. Any value in the farmhouse is inherent only within the fragmentary structural remains, of medieval date, in the front, north and rear, south walls, at the east end of the range. The impact of any works which breach the ground surface in and around the farmhouse and gardens, on any buried archaeological resource may be permanent and irreversible but can be mitigated through a programme of archaeological recording. This is a site of high archaeological potential and evidential value. |
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