Description

SX 68 NE CHAGFORD

3/28 Barn and stables approximately
- 2 metres north of Higher Corndon
Farmhouse
- II

Barn, former Dartmoor longhouse, and adjoining stables. C16 or C17, stables added
in C19. Earliest work of large blocks of roughly-coursed granite ashlar, rest
granite stone rubble with large dressed quoins; disused granite stack; corrugated
asbestos and corrugated iron roof (formerly thatch).
Plan: L-shaped building. The longer block backing onto the lane and facing south-
east is now used as a barn and cow byre but was formerly a 3-room-and-through-
passage plan Dartmoor longhouse. It is built down a gentle slope with the inner
room uphill at the left (north-east) end. The outer walls narrow noticeably at this
end and the inner room is unheated, maybe it was a dairy. The hall has a disused
stack backing onto the passage and a newel stair turret projecting from the rear
wall. The rear passage doorway is now blocked. Shippon with hayloft over at right
end. In C19 a stable block was added at right angles projecting forward from the
inner room end. Former longhouse is now 2 storeys but probably originated as an
open hall house.
Exterior: the only surviving front window is the ground floor hall window towards
the left end (close to the stables). It is a C19 casement with glazing bars. To
right is the front passage doorway with the cow door immediately beyond. Both have
solid oak frames, probably C18. At the right end a slit window to the shippon and a
hayloft loading hatch. Roof is hipped to left and gable-ended to right. Much of
the right end has been rebuilt (the gable with C20 breeze blocks), but one slit
window survives to left and there are 2 drain holes. The rear wall is completely
blind except for a collapsed section of wall at the right (inner room) end which is
used as a loading hatch. The blockings of the rear passage doorway and a ground
floor hall window are discernable and other blocked features could probably be
discovered by more careful examination. The newel stair turret projects from the
centre. At the right end is an Edward VIII post box. The front of the stables
contains 2 stable-type doors and a hayloft loading hatch, all with C19 joinery, and
its roof is gable-ended.
Interior: the partition between inner room and hall has been demolished at ground
and first floor level. Inner room has a C17 plain chamfered crossbeam. Hall
crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with runout stops. The hall fireplace is granite
ashlar with a plain surround. On the lower side of the passage there is a blind
rubble partition up to first floor level. The shippon hayloft is carried on
roughly-finished crossbeams. It still has the shippon drain. Roof of C20 A-frame
trusses.
This barn is an interesting survival of an unmodernised Dartmoor longhouse.

Listing NGR: SX6913285238

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400104

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey