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Summary

Potential site of a farmstead at Bachelor's Hall. Thomas Trywhitt built a late 18th century house here and the Tithe Map implies a farm existed here in the 19th century; which may have co-existed with mill cottages for the short duration of the Naphtha Works. In use in modern times as a youth hostel.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Pastscape: 909817

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMSTEAD (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD to 1840 AD (Between))
• YOUTH HOSTEL (XX - 1970 AD to 1999 AD (Between))

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

The 1839 Tithe Map depicts a building here of L-shape with other buildings and the farm outbuildings more or less as they are today.

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

Two rectangular buildings depicted on the late 19th century historic map.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

As the First Edition historic map.

Fletcher, M. J., 1989, Bachelor's Hall (Report - Survey). SDV219273.

Bachelors Hall, now a Youth Hostel, is at SX 60117358.
It is long, sub-divided and partially cement rendered stone building with a slate roof and refashioned windows. It is built into the slope along the contour. There is no evidence of industrial use and no traces of a weir-pool or wheel leat are visible. To the south of the building is a wide, dry channel and adjacent to the wall a narrow eroded channel; both carried water from the hillside down to the stream. Hemery's reference to a weir-pool and leat might apply to the dam and a by-pass channel downstream.
The building is generally accepted at the site of the corn mill and bakery, later converted to a Naphtha Works; the ruin downstream is thought to be a smelting works. Both documentary and map sources indicate the existence of other buildings at Bachelors Hall.
Trywhitt built a late 18th century house here and a few years later he was granted a lease to build a corn mill; this suggests two separate buildings. The tithe map and census returns both imply the existence of a farm at Bachelors Hall which if proved would have co-existed with mill cottages for the short duration of the Naphtha Works.
The Ordnance Survey 2 inch drawing depicts five buildings near the stream as does an early 19th century Duchy map although the latter are somewhat stylised and annotated "Bachelors Hall Tin Mine".
A second 19th century Duchy map shows Bachelors Hall as an L-shape building slightly larger than it is today. A building depicted downstream is allegedly the smelting works, and two structures higher up the hillside to the west annotated `Brewery'. The 1839 Tithe Map depicts a building here of L-shape with other buildings and the farm outbuildings more or less as they are today.
Further research is necessary before the precise siting of each element can be firmly established.

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

Included on list. No further information provided.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Bachelor's Hall is depicted on the modern mapping and is now used as a youth hostel.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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