Description

WIDECOMBE-IN-
SX 77 NW THE-MOOR
2/139 Chittleford Farmhouse
23.8.55

GV II

Farmhouse, formerly a longhouse. C16 or earlier, remodelled 1689; shippon
demolished in early C20, but gable-wall survives as part of a pigsty (separately
listed). Granite rubble. Slated roof. Granite ashlar chimneystack with thatch
weatherings and tapered top on each gable of main range. Rear range has smaller
rendered stacks on right-hand and gable-walls, the latter stack with thatch
weatherings. Plan appears to have had a shippon and cross-passage at left-hand end,
both now demolished and replaced by a small lean-to. Hall and parlour to right,
formerly with a through-passage between them (rear doorway now converted into a
window); passage was probably inserted in 1689. Rear wing, originally 2 rooms long
and believed to have been built in 2 stages, probably added in C17. 2 storeys. 3-
window front. The 2 ground-storey windows have straight hood-moulds with carved
terminals; granite lintels belong to former mullioned windows and were found in
garden in C20. All windows have C20 casements, except for one possibly C19 in
centre of second storey. In centre bay of ground storey a gabled, granite ashlar
porch; this has a round-arched doorway with three-quarter-round moulding and carved
spandrels including initials TL and date 1689. Above the arch a moulded cornice and
at apex of gable a ball-finial. Inner doorway has C20 wood frame; door, which may
be earlier than 1689, is of studded vertical planks with scratch mouldings at the
edges and has wrought-iron strap-hinges with fleurs-de-lys terminals. Rear doorway
of through-passage (now a window) has hood-mould with carved terminals; lintel,
formerly head of a mullioned window, was found in the garden. In the left-hand end
wall; re-set from front door of original cross-passage, is a moulded, 4-centred
granite arch with carved spandrels; above it is an old carved stone emblem with
date 1890 added beneath it.
Interior: right-hand ground-storey room (former parlour) has very large granite
fireplace with chamfered jambs having pyramid stops and an ogee-moulded lintel
which, however, fits the opening exactly; upper part of lintel, butted by the upper
floor joists, is carved with the primitive figures of a fox and a goose. Left-hand
room has hollow-moulded granite fireplace with corbelled lintel; it must originally
have backed on to the through-passage. In the wing the side-fireplace adjacent to
the front range has hollow-moulded joists and plain lintel, all of granite. Gable
fireplace has roughly-chamfered wood lintel with run-out stops. Roof-trusses late
C17 or early C18, with collars pegged and nailed to the faces of the principal
rafters.
The demolished shippon end is shown on the 25 in. Ordnance Survey Map of 1905 and is
reported to be illustrated in a water-colour belonging to Mr Mann of Buckfastleigh,
who formerly lived in the house. This was clearly the house of someone of
considerable social standing; it has excellent outbuildings which are separately
listed.

Listing NGR: SX7223875741

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26534268

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)