Details
WIDECOMBE-IN-
SX 77 SW THE-MOOR
6/175 Higher Uppacott and
23.8.55 Uppacot
GV I
Longhouse, now divided into 2 houses. Late medieval; wing on north-east probably
added in C17, and former outbuilding to south-west of that probably added in C18 or
early C19. Granite rubble; south-east face of wing covered with roughcast. Main
range is thatched, with half-hip at either end; former outbuilding is slated. In
centre of ridge in main range is a granite ashlar chimneystack with stone
weatherings (heating former hall); cap seems to be C20. On gable-end of wing is
another granite ashlar stack with weatherings, this time with its original tapered
cap 3-room and through-passage plan, with shippon (no longer used for cattle) to
right of passage; hall and inner room to left. Wing at upper end (now a separate
house called Uppacot, along with the former outbuilding) probably a parlour or
kitchen. The shippon is remarkable among standing longhouses in having no separate
entrance. 2 storeys, the shippon formerly lofted. House-part is 3 windows wide in
ground storey (this side of house has no upper-storey windows). The middle window
(lighting former hall) is of granite, containing 2 lights with flat-splay mullions;
straight hood-mould above. The outer windows have plain granite lintels and contain
C19 wood casements with 2 or 3 panes per light. Old plank door to through-passage,
with applied ribs; C20 thatched porch on 2 wooden posts, which are probably re-used
timbers from the house. In the shippon are 2 ventilation slits. The gable-wall to
right has 3 more slits in the ground storey and one above; at the base of the wall
is a drain outlet. The rear wall of the main range is concealed by a stone lean-to
with a corrugated asbestos roof; most of it is still occupied by outhouses, but the
right-hand end has been converted into living accommodation, rendered and re-
windowed in C20. A photograph of 1950 shows the lean-to with slated roof, forming
an attractive feature of the building. Behind the lean-to is the rear doorway to
the through-passage, having a chamfered, round-headed wood frame with shouldered
durn jamb. The shippon has one ventilation slit this side, now blocked. The wing
has small-paned wood casements, some C19, some C20. The former outbuilding is
heavily windowed with C20 small-paned wood casements. The gable-wall to south-east
retains its original character, with 2 ventilation slits in the ground storey and 1
above; to right of the latter is a blocked loading door with wooden lintel. The
north-east side of the wing and outbuilding, which is clearly visible from the road,
has no windows; there is a small 2-light window in the adjacent gable-wall of the
main range.
Interior: the shippon has a well-made central drain lined with large granite
blocks; against each of the long walls is a feeding-trough defined by thin stones
with holes on top for tethering-posts. The loft floor has been removed, but the
plain, heavy cross-beams remain. A C19 wood partition divides the shippon from the
passage, this being faced with horizontal planks on the passage side. Close to the
passage is a raised cruck-truss with the tops of the blades held apart by a yoke
designed to carry a square-set ridge. There are no slots for purlins, but there are
mortices for a collar. The truss is not obviously smoke-blackened, but a piece of
blackened ridge-beam is poised rather precariously between it and the hall stack.
The walling containing the west foot has been disturbed, but the east foot seems to
be in its original slot, resting on a large padstone half-way up the wall. A truss
of this type could well be C14 or early C15. On the house side of the passage the
back of the hall stack (now whitened) is of granite ashlar blocks with a chamfered
plinth and cornice. To the right of it, above the doorway into the hall, is what
appears to be the head-beam of a plank-and-muntin partition. The hall fireplace has
hollow-moulded granite jambs and a chamfered wood lintel with step-stops. Above the
lintel are 2 pieces of shaped granite, clearly designed to fit under a relieving
arch (although this, if it exists, is plastered over); this feature is blocked off
by the upper-floor beams, and suggests that the stack may have been inserted while
the hall was still open to the roof. There is no sign of an oven at the back of the
fireplace. The upper-floor beams are chamfered, with 1 bar-stop visible; the
joists are chamfered with step-stops. The main cross-beam runs into the centre of a
blocked opening in the rear wall; this is set high up and clearly rises above the
existing ceiling-level, having been the hall window while it was open to the roof.
There are no old joists in the narrow space in front of the fireplace, and it is
possible that a spit mechanism rose through the ceiling at this point. The 2-light
granite window in the front wall has a loop half-way and integral with the centre
mullion; it may have been designed for a bar to close the shutters. Above the hall
are 2 trusses with feet designed like primitive jointed crucks; the feet of the
principal rafters into into the wall-tops, but pegged and tenoned to them, against
the wall-faces, are short struts, themselves sinking into the walls. The trusses
have threaded purlins and ridge, but whereas the truss over the centre of the hall
has a tenoned collar, that over the division between hall and inner room has a
collar with notched and shaped ends sunk into halvings in the faces of the principal
rafters. Both trusses, with their purlins, ridge and thatching-spars, and the
underside of the thatch, are smoke-blackened and it is clear that the roof over the
inner room (though partly rebuilt) was originally the same. It is clearly a
medieval roof, though quite different from that of the shippon; the halved collar
usually, a post-medieval feature, suggests a possible early C16 date. Nailed to
this truss over the division between hall and inner room, and certainly a later
addition (perhaps of circa 1600), is a close-studded partition; the studs are
grooved down the sides, and still contain the original horizontal laths designed to
carry the mud infill. At the east end is a square-headed door-frame with scratch
mouldings. The ground-storey wall below is of stone, but it is not clear how this
relates to the timber-framing. The wing has been considerably altered, but in the
ground storey is a large gable-fireplace with monolithic granite jambs and a plain
wood lintel; there is no oven in the back. On the floor above there is a smaller
fireplace with chamfered granite jambs and chamfered wood lintel, the latter with a
scroll-stop at the right-hand end. The roof-trusses are plain; though darkened,
they are probably not smoke-blackened.
The main range (Higher Uppacott) is owned by the Dartmoor National Park.
Source: photograph in National Monuments Record, London.
Listing NGR: SX7013172879
