West Burrow Farmhouse

Details

BRATTON CLOVELLY SX 49 SE

7/13 West Burrow Farmhouse

II*

Longhouse. Circa 1500 with C17 addition and C20 alterations. Rendered cob and rubble walls. Thatched and corrugated iron roof, hipped at left-hand end, gabled at right-hand end and rear wing. 3 stacks. 2 axial brick stacks, 1 to main block, 1 between rear wing and outbuilding extension; projecting rubble stack at right gable end . Longhouse plan of shippon at lower left end divided by passage from hall and inner room. There is a full height solid wall between shippon and passage and the shippon has its own external doorway adjoining the passage door but the existence of an original internal door between the 2 shows that they are co-eval although the cattle may always have used a separate entrance. A solid wall also divides the hall and inner room continuing on the 1st floor, but it is not possible to tell if the inner room is original. Lack of access to the roof space precludes any evidence of this or whether the house originally had an open hall with central hearth but the early type of roof truss and doorways suggest that it may have done; both hall and inner room fireplaces appear to be C17 and date from alterations which probably also included the addition of a hall projection at the front. The rear wing of one small room behind the inner room is also C17; its fireplace is now blocked so the date of its stack is unclear, if originally unheated the room is likely to have been a dairy, otherwise it may have been a kitchen. In the C20 the ceiling beams of the hall and inner room were replaced and the rear door of the passage and that from passage to shippon blocked. The stairs were also altered although probably retaining their original position at the rear of the hall. 2 storeys. The house is set down a slope with the shippon at the lower left end. Asymmetrical 3-window front with hall bay projecting to right of centre. Late C19/early C20 casements with glazing bars on first floor, ground floor windows are similar but later C20. At the centre is original doorway to passage with chamfered wooden frame which has shouldered and cranked head almost forming a 4-centred arch and probably C19 plank door. To its left is doorway into shippon which is probably original but very plain with rough wooden lintel. Towards the left end of the shippon is a very small square window opening and on the first floor to its right is a probably inserted loading doorway. The gable end of the shippon has a stone framed drainage hole at ground level and a slit opening above to either side. At the rear to the left is a very small wing which has been extended by probably C19 outbuildings. The passage rear door has been blocked and an adjoining doorway to the right inserted into the shippon. Interior remains relatively unaltered apart from the insertion of C20 ceiling beams in hall and inner room. The small rear room has closely spaced fairly insubstantial ceiling beams, chamfered with hollow step stops. The hall fireplace has a chamfered wooden lintel with worn stops. Built into the inner wall of the hall is a 'creamer' - originally used for making cream - which has been blocked underneath but the recess above remains. The inner room fireplace has a chamfered wooden lintel with straight cut stops. Above it is a small wooden panel ornately carved with a grotesque face and a vine motif either side. To the right of the fireplace is a cupboard with tall double doors each of 3 moulded panels with a lozenge shape carved in high relief on each, also moulded. The doors are not flush with the wall but project and probably come from another house as the carved wooden panel may also do, both appear to be good quality C17 work, however. At the lower side of the passage is a heavy chamfered wooden door frame with 2- centred arch and original wide oak studded door - this has been blocked off on the shippon side. The passage has cross beams with a narrow chamfer and hollow step stops. Over the hall a pair of face-pegged jointed crucks can be seen; there is, however, no access to the roof space so further details of construction or evidence of smoke- blackening cannot be seen. The shippon roof does not retain its original timbers but has rough C19 principal rafters with collars lapped and pegged to the principals. Its floor has been concreted. This is an unusual survival of a longhouse with unconverted shippon which is also not in a typical moorland or moorland fringe position but stands several miles away from Dartmoor. Though not a "true longhouse" in the purist sense because a solid full-height wall exists between shippon and passage, it seems clear that it is a late medieval house with integral accommodation for animals and humans and internal access from the domestic end to the animal end. As such it could be defined as a "developed longhouse" plan.

Listing NGR: SX4908991718

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

94268

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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