MSO6712 - Stone, Exford (Building)

An 18th Century house, two cell in plan with an axial hall and service wing at the rear. A datestone of 1678 on the rear elevation has been reset here from another building. It belonged to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, a Warden of Exmoor Forest.

(SS 8654 3879) Stone (NAT). [1] Stone (formerly listed as Stone Farmhouse) 6.4.59 - II* House.The house is mid to late 18th century in date. The date of 1678 on the rear elevation has been reset from another building. The building is shown as country house on Day and Musters map of Somerset 1782, it belonged to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, the last Warden of Exmoor Forest whose Crown Lease expired in 1814. [2] At SS 8662 3873 in the grounds to the southeast of Stone are a number of tree clumps set on low planting mounds; no further investigation was carried out. [3] The site was visited in February 1997 as part of the Exmoor Farmsteads survey. The house was noted to be "an extraordinary apparition, a Palladian Villa of perhaps 1740s…[with] a symmetrical front block (façade with 6 Palladian windows)." [4] 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. [5] The farmstead is discussed by Hamilton. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7] The building was assessed as part of the 2018-19 rapid condition survey of Exmoor’s Listed Buildings, receiving a BAR score of 6. [8]