Buildings Recording And Investigation at The Old Sawmills, High Bullen, St. Giles in the Wood, Devon

All recording works have been undertaken in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) drawn up in consultation with the Devon County Historic Environment Team (DCHET). The site was visited on the 17th November 2025 by archaeologists E. Wapshott MCIfA 2015; 2016) guidance. Written records will be accompanied by a comprehensive photographic record. Measured plans of the building will be created and annotated. This work will conform to Level 2/3 of the appropriate Historic England guidance and the DCHET specifications. The majority of the building, apart from a small section to the north-west corner, all dates from a single phase of construction, built between the 1842 tithe map and 1886 First edition. This is likely aligned with the rebuilding of the main house and significant investment in the estate, between1868-1873. This north-west corner is of a much looser, rubble build and has a thicker, messier lime mortar and pointing, of a greyish-beige colour, rather than the 'clean' cream coloured lime used in the main build. It has been more heavily altered and there are a lot of cement repairs. This wall projects to the west, on a different alignment slightly and is contiguous to the north, forming a retaining wall of sorts. This main building is built up against this remnant of an earlier building - we can see from the historic mapping (Figures 3 & 4) that there was a much longer range to the north, on a slight offset alignment and set forward, with the building currently surviving to the north, presumably the truncated, altered remains of this. The 1946 aerial photograph appears to show this northern building as a roofless structure. Minor alterations have happened throughout the building's life, and it has obviously changed function after all the sawmills equipment was stripped out, now merely being an amenity/storage building. Where elements have had to be replaced, even in the early 20th century, it would appear that the estate undertook to make exact copies, for example, the windows in the west elevation, which are of an archaic 19th century form.