Cleaves House is in Tyning Hamlet, just to the west of Timsbury, Bath and North-East Somerset. The southern portion of its garden was originally a separate property which had a large Georgian house known locally as ‘The Fort’. The house burnt down in 1928 and was subsequently abandoned as a ruin, which was finally demolished in the 1990’s. The site was lawned over so there is now no trace of it on the surface.
The geophysical survey in August 2024 used twin-probe resistance, which located an area of rubble on the east side of this lawn, with lesser signs of walls extending to the west. Resistivity profiling provided sections through the rubble and indicated a void extending down two metres, which confirmed stories of a cellar discovered by local children in the 1960’s. The plots also indicated signs of walls beyond the rubble area, permitting a possible outline reconstruction of the building. This could be compared with details on local maps. These affirmed the general outline of the building, but suggested that the structure was more accurately located on Timsbury Tithe apportionment map than on early editions of Ordnance Survey maps.
The full history of The Fort is currently subject to historical research, details of which will be
published separately from this report.
The report is now available for download.