Conservation in Action

Exmoor National Park Authority bought the Simonsbath sawmill from the Fortescue estate in the 1990s to safeguard the character of the building and its site in the middle of Exmoor, to restore it as a building, and to restore its operation as part of a renewable energy strategy.

  This sawmill was damaged in 1952, from a major flood. The restoration of the mill building itself was carried out to the highest building conservation standards. It is more than a desire to ‘preserve’ an old structure to the Exmoor National Park Authority. It had always been seen as part of the National Park Authority’s approach to sustainable countryside management and promotion of the use of renewable energy.