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

• Wikidata Q26534268

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Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy