Description

WIDECOMBE-IN- SX 67 SE THE-MOOR 5/271 Lower Tor Farmhouse 23.8.55 GV II*

House, formerly a longhouse. C16, or possibly earlier, with additions. Granite rubble with patches of ashlar, especially at the upper (west) end of the south front. Thatched roof, half-hipped at lower end; added lean-to on north side is covered with corrugated asbestos. Granite chimneystack with tapered top on centre of ridge. Larger projecting granite stack with offsets and plain top in upper gable-wall. Rubble stack, probably a much later addition (it is not shown on C20 published plans of the house), against north wall of former shippon. The plan is the usual one of shippon (now the kitchen) below a through-passage with hall and inner room above, except that there is in addition a cross-passage adjoining the through-passage on the hall side. This cross-passage ought to be an early feature because the C16 hall stack backs on to it in the traditional manner, yet there is no evidence at all of a doorway at the north end and at the south end there is an added porch of 1707. The through-passage, on the other hand, has an early C16 doorway at the north end. Because of these features, writers on vernacular architecture have treated the house as representing an important stage in the evolution of the longhouse from its medieval form, although it is far from clear (as the published work seems to suggest) that the existing plan is entirely the result of early C18 alterations. 2 storeys with single-storey additions. South front is 5 windows wide. All windows are C20, except in the porch. The latter is 2-storeyed, having in the ground storey a round-arched, moulded granite doorway with IT 1707 carved in the spandrels. In the upper storey is a 2-light granite-mullioned window, probably of the same date. Attached to the south-west corner of the porch is an open-fronted stone well house with a thatched roof. On the north front most of the house part is concealed by the lean-to, but the edge of a stair turret with a slit window is just visible at the left-hand end. Rear doorway of through-passage has a chamfered, round-headed granite arch with one worn stop, probably a pyramid. Former shippon has a single ventilation slit in ground storey; loft door to left of upper storey. Interior: Former shippon has very heavy, unchamfered upper-floor beams; the beam next to the through-passage has been underbuilt with a stone wall (the wall is not shown at all on the published plans). On the other side another stone wall divides the through-passage from the cross-passage. On the upper side of the latter is the back of the hall stack, this being of granite ashlar with a cornice at the top. In the hall the fireplace is large with chamfered granite jambs and lintel; a relieving arch is visible in the bedroom above, but the space below it contains only stone rubble, rather than a specially cut piece of granite. Upper-floor beams are chamfered. Staircase in north wall, level with the stack, has winding stone steps. Inner room and bedroom above it both have fireplaces with plain granite lintels. Roof timbers replaced in C18-C20. There are several published references to the house (with plan) : 1) M W Barley, The English Farmhouse and Cottage 1961, p.110 (fig.17D). 2) E Mercer, English Vernacular Houses, 1975, pp.39, 151, plate 35. 3) J Thirsk, ed., The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Vol.IV 1500-1640, 1967, p.730 (wrongly described as Higher Tor).

Listing NGR: SX6978972586

External Links

• Wikidata Q17535590

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