Burning House in Middlecott Wood, About 400 Metres South West of Middlecott Farmhouse is a Grade II listed building in the Dartmoor National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 3 November 1986. Furnace house.

Burning House in Middlecott Wood, About 400 Metres South West of Middlecott Farmhouse

WRENN ID
hollow-hinge-vetch
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Dartmoor National Park
Constituency
Central Devon MP: Sir Mel Stride (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
3 November 1986
Type
Furnace house
OS grid reference
SX 781 765
Coordinates
50.57622, -3.72292
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Burning House in Middlecott Wood, located about 400 metres south-west of Middlecott Farmhouse, is a structure likely built in the mid to late 19th century. It is constructed from large dressed granite blocks, except for part of the western end which is made of granite and slatestone rubble, with red brick dressings and internal finishes. The roof is covered with corrugated iron.

The building has a rectangular three-cell plan, with the middle cell extending to the full height of the structure and featuring a doorway and two windows on the south side. The east and west cells each house a furnace, with a storeroom for ore located above each furnace. Each furnace has an opening with an iron door leading from the middle cell, and above this opening is a flue that originally had a stack on the roof ridge. A second horizontal flue leads from the first to a detached stack on the north side of the building, serving both furnaces.

Each furnace includes a segmental brick vault with a hopper that allows ore to be shovelled in from the storeroom above. The fire is positioned against the gable wall, with external access in the north wall and an ashpit located beneath. At the opposite end, below the furnace, there is a cooling chamber with external access in the south wall. The storerooms each feature a doorway in the gable wall and a window in the south wall. The simple roof-trusses, likely the original ones, remain intact.

The Burning House was in use until the early 20th century and is believed to have processed tin ore from the nearby Atlas Mine. Just to the south, though not included in the listing, is the water-wheel pit of a former stamping mill. This building is a rare and remarkably complete example of its kind, often described as presenting a clear illustration of how this type of furnace functioned.

Local climate

Burning House in Middlecott Wood, About 400 Metres South West of Middlecott Farmhouse receives an average of 880 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 65% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 76% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 20 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 79% 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.

More on this building

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