Old Signal Station on Butter Hill, Kipscombe Farm, Countisbury, Watersmeet

Summary

Small, stone building with pebble dash walls and a slate roof. It is only 4m by 4m, with a door on the E and shuttered windows to the NE and W. There is room inside the door for walkers to shelter, but most of the interior is not accessible. The building stands within a small enclosure that includes a telecommunication mast.

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Description

Standing on Butter Hill, it consists of a small, stone building rendered with pebble-dash and has a slate roof. The door is to the east and there are shuttered windows to the north -east and west. It is now used to house electrical equipment and as a small resting place for walkers on the coast path, having been recently restored by the Trust (Thackray 1986).

Small, stone building with pebble dash walls and a slate roof. It is only 4m by 4m, with a door on the E and shuttered windows to the NE and W. There is room inside the door for walkers to shelter, but most of the interior is not accessible. The building stands within a small enclosure that includes a telecommunication mast. The building was restored by the Trust in the 1980’s, and is listed as site 100270 in the 1986 survey (Berry 2004).

The building is reported as being occupied within living memory by an old lady and her son (Roger Ferrer to Julian Gurney 2010).

Further research was undertaken in 2010 by Bill Scolding for interpretation purposes:
1891. No signal station marked on OS map
1895. Book 'The Coasts of Devon & Lundy' refers to a Lloyds Signal Station on Countisbury Common.
1898 Book 'The British Merchant Service' lists all 44 UK Lloyds Signal Stations, and includes shipping reports from all, and there is nothing for this location (nearest is Lundy). Interestingly, the list includes 6 stations which are temporarily suspended, but Countisbury/Lynmouth/Foreland is not one of these.
1903 Book 'Ships & Shipping Handbook' lists 38 UK Lloyds Signal Stations, including Lundy but nothing for this location (see attached).
1904 'Signal station' is marked on the OS map
1905 'Signal station' is marked on the OS map
1938 'Signal station' is marked on the OS map
Also, the Lloyd's signal station at Bass Point on the Lizard, on the 1907 OS map, is referred to as 'Lloyd's Signal Station' rather than just 'signal station' Even more relevant, the 1903 OS map of Lundy also refers to 'Lloyd's Signal Station'
So, all I can deduce from the above is that the Countisbury signal station
(a) was built sometime after 1891 and before 1895
(b) the writer of 'The Coasts of Devon & Lundy' might have mistakenly referred to it as a Lloyds station
© if it was a Lloyds station it had been permanently decommisionned by 1898
(d) it was still some kind of signal station in 1903, but not Lloyds (as the OS does seem to prefer the use of the Lloyds name on its mapping by this date)
(e) and it was still referred to as a signal station in 1938
I think the weight of the evidence I've found is that it was not a Lloyds Signal Station ( although I would prefer to be proved wrong!). And surely Lloyds did not need another signal station at Countisbury, when it had one watching over the same waters from Lundy!(Bill Scolding email 19Feb2010)

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