HTTPD fails to start, compilation error - mod_access.so not found
 

HTTPD has been failing to start for about a day now, this is the output from shell command "HTTPD -e DEBUG":


httpd: Syntax error on line 156 of /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf: Cannot load /etc/httpd/modules/mod_access.so into server: /etc/httpd/modules/mod_access.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory


What should mod_access.so contain?

mod_access is the apache module responsible for the Allow, Deny and Order directives. It's used in prior versions and gone with apache 2.2.x
If you're using apache 2.2.x you can remove the respective LoadModule line from the configuration file.
If you're using an older apache version, run "httpd -M" to see if it's a compiled-in module or a dso (dynamic loadable module).

After running the output is:

Unfortunately I can't make much sense of this :(

My aim when it is all set up is to use this machine solely as a web and (local network) file server - do you think I would be better reinstalling the web server software?

How did you install apache?
You can edit httpd.conf and comment out line 156 (I guess it should read LoadModule /etc/httpd/modules/mod_access.so) to see if apache starts.