MSO10640 - Emmett's Grange Farmhouse (Building)

A farmhouse built in c. 1850. The walls are rendered, over rubble, with a hipped slate roof and roughcast stacks on returns. Double pile with independently roofed service wing left. Two storeys, 3:1 bays, 16-pane sash windows first floor and ground floor left, 12-pane end bay right, canted bay window to right of flat roofed Doric porch, 20th Century door; 2-storey, 2-bay service wing left set back with single storey single bay addition in angle, mainly 20th Century fenestration. This is the best surviving example of the farms built by John Knight as part of the reclamation of Exmoor. [1] This farm was run by Robert Smith, land agent to the Knight family. It was the most successful of the Knights' farms, but still incurred significant costs to run. [2] The building was visited in December 2013 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [3] John Knight was a landowner and industrialist with an ironworks at Wolverley in Worcestershire. He bought Exmoor forest from the Crown in 1820. Several new farms were built and let c. 1844 including Emmets Grange, Horsen, Wintershead, Warren and Crooked Post. [4] Monument record reviewed as part of NRHE to HER pilot project. [5,6] The house was assessed as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor’s Listed Buildings 2018-19, receiving a BAR score of 6. [7]