Well House Stone Pier And Rustic Seat In The Dairy Dell

The well-house stone pier and rustic seat in the Dairy Dell is a Grade II listed structure, created as a single picturesque composition around 1810. The well house itself has medieval origins, as does part of the masonry of the seat. It was relocated from Leigh Barton to Endsleigh around 1810 by the 6th Duke of Bedford, as part of the landscaped gardens designed by Humphry Repton. The internal masonry of the well house is made of local ashlar, likely medieval, while the rustic stone rubble exterior dates from 1810.

The well-house and a gabled stone pier of similar size flank a rustic seat, which consists of a timber bench in front of a medieval stone slab featuring blind trefoil-headed arcading. The well-house has a gabled stone slate roof and is a small rectangular structure with a rectangular opening, which has one moulded stone applied as a jamb that may not be original. Inside, there is a moulded stone corbel decorated with blind pointed arcading. A cobbled drain runs from the well into the pond in the Dairy Dell.

An irregularly shaped inscription panel on the gable reads, "This simple structure inclosed the holy well which served as a baptismal font to the Abbots of Tavistock at their hunting seat at Leigh in this parish." The stone pier is constructed of rustic stone rubble masonry and also has a gabled stone slate roof. Various pieces of moulded and carved medieval masonry are scattered around the well house, likely originating from Leigh Barton.