Well House Stone Pier and Rustic Seat in the Dairy Dell is a Grade II listed building in the West Devon local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 March 1967. Well-house, seat.
Well House Stone Pier and Rustic Seat in the Dairy Dell
- WRENN ID
- iron-screen-coral
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- West Devon
- Constituency
- Torridge and Tavistock MP: Sir Geoffrey Cox (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 21 March 1967
- Type
- Well-house, seat
- Address
- Well House Stone Pier and Rustic Seat in the Dairy Dell, Milton Abbot
- OS grid reference
- SX 389 785
- Coordinates
- 50.58487, -4.27607
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
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.
Local climate
Well House Stone Pier and Rustic Seat in the Dairy Dell sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,030 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 82% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 81% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 80% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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