Simonsbath Sawmill

This is the website of the Friends of Simonsbath Sawmill (FoSS).  The group was established in 2014 and aims “to support the conservation, enhancement, understanding and public enjoyment of the historic, water-powered sawmill in Simonsbath, Somerset.”  

The sawmill and adjoining meadows were purchased by Exmoor National Park Authority (NPA) in 1996 (thanks to generous grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Rural Development Commission) in order “to safeguard the outstanding industrial archaeological interest and character of the sawmill in its setting.”  Further HLF funding enabled Exmoor National Park Authority to restore the sawmill, and the associated weirs, sluices and leats that bring water to it, and it was re-opened in 2003. 

The refurbished sawmill was used by the NPA until 2010 and was then cared for by FoSS  volunteers until July 2019.  Since then Three Atop Woodland Services has had a licence from the NPA to use the sawmill. 

For information on Three Atop's services and products please visit their website and social media pages.

If you are interested in the history of the sawmill, and the carpenters who have worked there, please email the Friends of Simonsbath Sawmill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Copies of the 2018 book on The Exmoor Carpenters - a history of Simonsbath and the heart of Exmoor as reveled through the lives of the estate carpenters who helped shape it are available from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or from Amazon at £5.00 plus postage.  All proceeds are used to support conservation work in Simonsbath.

New copies of Simonsbath - the inside story of an Exmoor village by Roger Burton (1994)- at £5.00 plus postage (paperback) and £7.50 (hardback).- are availble from the same places and again all proceeds are used to support conservation work in Simonsbath.