Former Longhouse at Beetor Farm Approximately 50 Metres West of Beetor Farmhouse, North Bovey, Devon

Description

NORTH BOVEY
SX 78SW Former Longhouse at Beetor Farm
4/264 approximately 50 metres west of
-
5.11.86 Beetor Farmhouse
GV II

Disused longhouse, the higher end in ruins. Probably C16 with C17 and Cl8
alterations and additions. Entirely built of granite; the original longhouse was
built of grantite ashlar, so is the higher side of the porch but the later additions
and rear wall of the shippon are granite rubble. Roofless except for the shippon
and porch which are clad in corrugated iron.
Plan: the original plan was a longhouse with the shippon to the right and the hall
and large inner room to the left. The inner room is usually large and may have
been an addition or an enlargement of a more conventional small inner room. The
higher end of the house is roofless so it is impossible to say whether it was open
to, the roof originally, but the stack at the lower end of the hall may be integral.
There was certainly a hall chamber in the C17, through which access must have been
gained to the chamber over the C17 porch. The position of the stairs is unclear.
The granite partition wall on the lower side of the passage seems to be a later
insertion: it is built well into the shippon creating a wide passage; it rises only
to the loft floor height and is only about two thirds across the shippon leaving a
wide entrance. It therefore seems to have been a true longhouse with no structural
division between the passage and shippon and no separate entrance into the shippon.
The doorway in the front wall of the shippon was probably inserted in Cl7 when the
porch to the front of the passage was built. The porch is of two storeys and has a
small integral unheated room on its lower side overlapping the shippon and a chamber
above. This unheated room was enlarged probably in the C18 by widening on the lower
side which consequently partly overlaps the C17 doorway to its right. An
oven has been inserted into the back of the hall fireplace and projects into the
passage. Other, probably C18 alterations include a shallow outshut at the rear of
the hall across the back of the passage and behind the higher end of the shippon.
The shippon has also been extended by a long range at the lower end but only one bay
of this survives. There is also a possibly C18 extension at the higher end which
like the hall and inner room is now roofless, but has a curious internal plan with a
curved wall and two entrances on the higher end and is therefore probably a farm
building. In circa 1946 the higher end of the house was gutted by fire and
abandonedd but the porch retains its original C17 roof, while the shippon with its
C20 roof remains in use as a farm building.
Fabric: the higher end to left is in ruins and roofless, the granite ashlar walls
stand to about first floor level in places and at the higher left front corner
almost to the eaves level. There is a doorway into the front of the inner room, its
jambs rebated for a doorframe. The fine ashlar front wall of the hall continues
across the inner room without a joint and therefore the inner room may be original
unless the front wall has been refaced or rebuilt. The fireplace in the higher end
wall of the inner room has chamfered jambs and detached two halves of its lintel lie
nearby with pyramid steps. The fireplace at the lower end of the hall has a granite
chamfered surround with a mitred lintel, but the feet of the jambs are buried in
fallen stone so their stops cannot be seen. There is a later doorway at the back of
the hall into the outshut. The outshut is also roofless but the walls survive to
about eaves level and have some windows with internal granite lined splays. Inside
the outshut an old granite trough with a Cl9 pump; apparently the well is under the
hall.
The back of the hall fireplace facing the passage is granite ashlar with a chamfered
cornice, but its base is buried, concealing, a probably similar chamfered plinth;
the stack above is granite rubble and built into a solid partition wall rising to
the roof apex. A large semi-circular stone rubble oven has been built into the back
of the fireplace and projects into the passage; it has a clay oven now holed at the
back. The front and back doorways of the trough passage are rebated for doorframes
and the doorway from the passage into the hall seems to be similarly rebated but the
existing doorframe and plank door are later; this hall-to-passage doorway has
drawbar tunnels in the jambs on the hall side.
The front wall of the shippon is of dressed granite with large ashlar at lower
levels; one ventilation slit and a doorway which is slightly overlapped by the
dairy extension on the porch. The gable end wall of the shippon survives only to
the loft floor level; it is of large roughly dressed granite rubble and has a
ground floor doorway inserted in the middle with a circa C17 or C18 pegged doorframe
with a slight chamfer. The rear wall of the shippon is of rough granite rubble and
has a ventilation slit. The shippon has low unchamfered cross-beams and a C20 roof
structure. The partition between the passage and shipon is set well into the
shippon creating a 9' wide passage and a wide doorway into the shippon.
The large porch at the front of the passage is a C17 addition, built of granite
ashlar; it has been widened on the lower side (which is granite rubble) creating an
asymmetrical gabled front, its doorway to the left with a chambered arch with granite
voussoirs and one chamfered jamb, probably reused; a small window opening above to
the right of the doorway and a larger ground floor window to the right which lights
the small unheated room to the right of porch which was enlarged in circa Cl8 on the
lower side. The internal partition wall between the porch and this room has a
doorway with a granite jamb rebated for a doorframe of which only the wooden lintel
survives, which is chamfered and has mason's mitres. The higher side of the porch
has a small window slit. The chamber above the porch is plastered and access seems
to have been from the chamber over the hall. The original Cl7 roof of the porch
survives intact and has one truss at the inner end closed above the collar with
wattle and daub infill; the collar is morticed to the principals, the purlins
trenched, the ridge-piece trenched and diagonally-set, and the rafters seem to be
intact. To the left of the porch are 3 large granite slabs forming what is said to
be a dog-kennel.
The surviving one bay of the the addition at the lower end of the shippon has a
ground floor front doorway, a ventilation slit to the right and a small opening at
ground floor level with a smaller square opening above divided by a granite transom;
the storey above is open-fronted, and the gable end wall is partly cob built.
The ground rises behind the house and the farmyard is at lower ground level in
front; the ground at the higher left end of the house is significantly higher than
the lower right end.
There is said to have been a Saxon settlement at Beetor and Beetor is referred to
in the Domesday Book.

Listing NGR: SX7109684436

External Links

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