Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Archaeological walk at West Irishborough Farm, Chittlehampton - Peter and Sarah Kerr (Newsletter No 14 2007/08)
On Sunday 24th June, despite pouring rain, a group of twelve NDAS members met at West Irishborough Farm, Chittlehampton for a look at the cob barn and lime kiln. The owner Hugh Muirhead met us and as it was rather wet we went straight to the barn, restored with a grant from DEFRA. Hugh gave us a brief history of the farm, explaining that there had been a farm recorded on the site for over 700 years but that the actual farmhouse itself was Victorian. Terry Green did an archaeological survey for him when he took over and was able to explain the name 'Irishborough' which has nothing to do with Ireland but means 'eagle hill'. There were also East Irishborough and Tower Farm, all linked together at an earlier date.
We then looked at the barn. It had been virtually derelict with only about two walls standing when Hugh took over, but you would never believe it now, as it is a magnificent piece of restoration. Hugh employed a local builder, a thatcher by trade who also builds cob walls, who did virtually all the work and where possible reused existing materials. A good example of this was the roof beams where he mixed the old and new, replacing missing timbers with new green wood specially selected and shaped to resemble the original beams. It was virtually impossible to tell them apart.There was a small room above, thought to have been an apple store with a chute to send the apples down and then on to the cider press. The dismantled press itself was across the way in another small building.There is no written evidence for this but it seems to fit within the farm layout, The thatched roof was superb as was all the workmanship here, including the finishing touches to the beam-ends.
When asked how old the barn was Hugh did not know for sure and said that the only definite pieces of datable evidence had been some timbers found within the actual cob wall at one corner. Sadly they had been thrown away, a lesson that nothing should ever be got rid of! By now we had all arrived, including Hugh's guest, the previous farmer who had lived at and worked West Irishborough for many years. Suitably booted and waterproofed therefore, we set off across the fields towards the newly constructed pond, admiring Hugh's dam at one end, and then on towards the lime kiln.
We stopped on a trackway, a definite 'road', leading from the direction of Bishops Tawton to the kiln and believed to have been the route by which coal was carried for use as fuel. It was certainly wide enough for carts and horses and there was even a pull off section that could have been used as a passing/resting place. We traipsed through some wet woods to the top of the kiln and looked down into the cleared bowl where the lime and fuel would have been tipped. We then went down and saw the real treasure, the actual kiln itself. Hugh told us it had been virtually buried and he had cleared it out himself over many weeks. It is a cathedral-like structure with two opposing entrances, thought to be for ventilation or possibly just two different access points, and three fire grates with a central chimney through which the burnt lime and coal dropped down. One grate had a channel leading to it from outside where Hugh said there was evidence of another smaller furnace-like building.
Two members of the party who had some previous experience of researching limekilns and talking to lime kiln workers expressed doubts over the viability of this building as a limekiln because of size of the furnace but Hugh said that limekilns were recorded here from the mid-18th century. Work apparently ceased in the mid-19th century.
Next we went to look at a nearby flooded quarry with a 50ft depth of water in middle. There was a mysterious well-like structure to one side, thought by one of us to be the site for a small pump to draw water for the horses. We then walked a little further to look at the site of East Irishborough and the area where there had once been what looked like a large pool to hold water for possibly a miil of some kind, the remains of which can be seen just down the stream.
On our return to the farm Hugh took us into a traditional threshing barn with carved graffiti dated 1765, and to a small attached outbuilding which showed evidence of use as an enginehouse, complete with the remains of the large support for the drive shaft. The rain had now stopped and we finished our visit with a lovely tea in the garden complete with delicious cake made by Hugh and Sarah's daughter. We thank them both for their kind hospitality.