SDO15283 - West Creech Farm, Steeple, Dorset, Results of historic building recording

'A historic buidling survey of a complex of agricultural buildings at West Creech Farm, Steeple, Dorset was carried out by AC Archaeology Ltd during April 2009. The survey comprised detailed recording of four standing buildings and summary recording of four ruinous ancillary structures. The principle buildings, the farmhouse and the threshing barn, were found to have several phases of construction, semi-deriliction, subsequent re-building and modification from the late-medieval period onwards. These episodes of decline and prosperity reflect similar changes in the wider agricultural landscape. The change in emphasis from arable to dairy farming was identifiable in the addition of animal housing to the threshing barn and in the addition of a new wing to the farmhouse, probably a dairy and cheese loft. The farm and its lands weer requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence in 1943 as part of the D-day preparations. Whilst this event caused the abandonment and fnal dereliction of the farm buildings, it also preserved the farm as a whole and afforded it a local historical significance that would otherwise have been lost.'