Berrator Farmhouse

Details

BUCKLAND MONACHORUM SX 46 NE 3/27 Berrator Farmhouse 21.3.67 - II*

Farmhouse. Later C15 with C16 alterations and C17 addition, modernised in C20. Rubble walls. Gable ended asbestos slate roof. Rubble lateral stack at front which has been truncated above the eaves. Tall rubble axial stack to rear wing and similar stack at its gable end. Original plan not entirely clear and incorporates several unusual features. There were apparently only 2 rooms in the original house, divided by a passage. At this date the house would have been open to the roof timbers at least over the hall (which is to the left) probably with a central open hearth fire. The function of the room to the right is debatable but several of its features are suggestive. It has always been unheated and has an original front external doorway of a similar type to that at the front of the passage but it is noticeably wider. The other noteable feature of this room is its massive rough cross beams. These features suggest an inferior function and the independent external access and very heavy rough beams are indicative of a shippon although there is no direct evidence. A complicating factor is the granite arched doorway in the gable end of this room, an unusual but not unknown feature for a longhouse, although the different style of this doorway suggests that it may be later, if not re-used. The beams over the lower room are probably original, to carry a hay loft, and would have been on a similar level to the screen at the lower end of the passage. The ceiling over the hall was probably inserted in the C16 and is considerably higher, no doubt to fit over the tall hall window. A newel stair was added at the rear of the passage and a fireplace was inserted at the front of the hall. In the C17 a wing was added at the rear of the hall consisting of 2 heated rooms, the first one with an axial stack and the next with a gable end stack. This slightly unusual arrangement was presumably to compensate for the lack of accommodation in the original house, particularly if half of it were a shippon. Probably in the C19 or early C20 the hall was divided longitudinally into 2 rooms to create a dairy at the rear. At some stage the screen was removed from the lower side of the passage and replaced by a later partition, there is no evidence of a screen at the upper side of the passage but a low one could easily have been removed without trace as the inserted ceiling is so high. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front. First floor windows are all circa early C19 12-pane hornless sashes except for the right hand one which is a small single light C20 casement. To the left on the ground floor is a tall 2-light granite mullioned and transomed C15 window of a high quality. It has cinquefoiled lights, recessed spandrels and a square hoodmould, in a moulded surround. By its height and position it appears intended to light an open hall. A window of this quality is unusual in a relatively small house and it has been suggested that it comes from Buckland Abbey but it appears to be insitu and the survival of a similar smaller window on the rear wall supports the evidence for it being original to the house. Furthermore the 2 shouldered-head chamfered wooden doorframes to the left and right of centre on the front wall are of a style contemporary with the window. The left hand doorway leads to the passage and its heavy oak-studded door with fleur-de-lys hinges, if not original, is certainly early. In front is a C19 open- fronted gabled porch incorporating a stone seat on the left-hand side. The doorway to the right is significantly wide with a C19 stable-type door. To its right is a possible blocked ventilation slit. To its left is a C20 3-light casement with small panes. Both window and doorway are under a slate pentice roof supported on heavy timber cantilevers with chamfered and rounded ends which may be C17. At the right- hand end is a C20 French window. Attached to the right gable end is a lower outbuilding, probably C19, which conceals a blocked granite 4-centred chamfered arched doorway in the gable end of the house. The left-hand gable wall of the house was rebuilt earlier in the C20 due to damage; it is built partly into the hillside with a road immediately adjoining and the house is positioned down a noticeable slope. At the rear of the left-hand end is a long C17 wing which partially conceals the stair projection at the rear of the passage. On the inner face of the wing to the left is a 4-centred arched granite doorway behind a part glazed C20 porch. Interior retains features from several periods. The massive rough closely-spaced beams in the right-hand lower end room are probably the earliest feature, one is forked at the front. The passage and rear lobby leading to the wing has a considerably higher beamed ceiling with substantial chamfered cross beams and joists also chamfered and step-stopped. At the lower side of the passage is a lower beam with mortices for the removed plank and muntin partition. A dairy has been formed by later partitions in the rear of the hall and in its rear wall is a partially blocked 2-light wooden mullioned window with cinquefoiled heads. The fireplace in the hall has been blocked but the large open hearth is likely to survive behind. The stone newel stairs at the rear of the passage have a worn wooden shouldered-head doorframe at the bottom. Leading to the rear wing is a segmental headed chamfered granite doorframe with crude stops. The inner room of the wing has 3 fairly insubstantial chamfered cross beams with traces of hollow step stops. The axial fireplace has 2 ovens but has had its lintel replaced. Its left-hand granite jamb also functions as jamb for the adjoining segmental headed doorway which is chamfered with ogee stops. The roof structure appears to be entirely C20. This house preserves a number of good features from several periods although the earlier ones are of most interest, particularly the hall window, as features of this date and quality are unusual in farmhouses in West Devon. Equally interesting is the unusual plan form - originally only of 2 rooms, one quite possibly a shippon - for which the features are of a surprisingly high quality. If the lower room were a shippon it is interesting that for such an early house this was not a 'true' longhouse with shared access for humans and animals, but a developed form with separate access for each - this is probably a reflection of its high status.

Listing NGR: SX4773068732

Legacy

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92617

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LBS

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