Rowden Farmhouse

Details

WIDECOMBE-IN- SX 67 NE THE-MOOR 1/199 Rowden Farmhouse - GV II

Dartmoor Expedition Centre, formerly a farmhouse. Late C17 or early C18 with minor C20 addition at the rear; former shippon at right-hand end is of a different build and could be the remnant of an earlier longhouse. Granite rubble; left-hand gable covered with roughcast. Half-hipped wheat reed thatched roof; large granite ashlar chimneystack with plain flat cap at each end of ridge, a little way in from the half-hip. Shippon to right mostly covered with cement-rendered slate, except for a patch of corrugated asbestos. 4-room plan. Front door opens on to a staircase; large room with fireplace at either side and a small unheated room beyond that. 2 storeys, with single-storey lean-tos. House part has a symmetrical 4-window front. Windows are of 3 lights in the 2 centre bays and 1 light at each end; wood mullions, possibly original, with C19 small-paned glazing. Plank door in centre and at each end of ground storey, the centre doorway having a gabled stone porch with stone seat at either side internally. The ground-storey openings, except for the left-hand doorway (which has a plain granite lintel) have flat arches with roughly- shaped voussoirs. The shippon end has a plank door at the left-hand end; to left of it is a C20 upper-storey window and to right of it a blocked ventilation slit. There is a stone lean-to against the right-hand end. The lower gable-wall, fronting the road, has 3 ventilation slits in the ground storey and 1 above, in the gable; all are now glazed. At the base of the wall is the outlet for a drain. There is a single ventilation slit in the rear wall. Interior: left-hand ground-storey room has large fireplace with flat arch having voussoirs like those on the exterior; chamfered upper-floor beams with run-out stops. Right-hand room has Victorian cast-iron grate with good patterned tiles. Roof has trusses with collars pegged to the faces of the principal rafters; no common rafters, just heavy thatching spars. Former shippon has cobbled floor with central drain; on rear side feeding trough stones with slots for tethering posts. There is no connecting door between the house and shippon, nor evidence that it ever existed. Roof rebuilt in C20. On the opposite side of the farmyard, to south-east, are a good barn and stable (the latter converted to living accommodation). Both are separately listed. They make a good group with the farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SX6996876375

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

441395

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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