Description

SX 69 SE THROWLEIGH

1/211 Langston Farmhouse north including
- garden walls adjoining to front

GV II

Farmhouse, former Dartmoor longhouse. Probably C16 origins with late C17
improvements, and major renovation in 1892. Front is plastered but ends and rear
show granite rubble walls with large quoins and in places massive blocks, walls
raised in cob; granite stacks, one still with its original granite ashlar chimney
shaft with moulded coping; thatch roof, corrugated iron to outshot.
Plan and development: Originally a 3-room-and-through-passage plan Dartmoor
longhouse facing south-east and built down the hillslope. The shippon was then
right (downhill) of the passage. The hall has an axial stack backing onto the
passage. The inner room end was refurbished in the late C17 to provide a parlour
with an end stack. The whole house was refurbished in 1892. Then the inner room
was relegated to a dairy. The hall became a dining room and a kitchen was built on
the back in a single storey outshot with end stack. The rear of the passage was
blocked and a new stair built off the back end of the passage rising up the rear
wall of the hall. A new parlour was built in the upper end of the shippon with an
axial stack backing onto the rest of the old shippon which then became a stable or
coach house. House is 2 storeys throughout.
Exterior: Irregular 3-window front of 1892 fenestration, most are casements with
glazing bars but the parlour and hall and parlour chambers have 16-pane sashes. The
front passage doorway right of centre contains a contemporary 6-panel door. Much of
the front has been replastered since 1892 but some of the scheme of that date
survives. There was a plain eaves cornice and flat stucco architraves around the
windows whilst the rest is incised as ashlar. Roof is gable-ended. The right gable
end shows evidence of its former shippon use. No clear evidence of a drain but
there is a slit window and hayloft loading hatch over. There is also a blocked cow
doorway.
Interior is largely the result of the 1892 refurbishment and most of its detail
still survives. Plaster of that date covers most of the carpentry detail and a
contemporary marble chimneypiece blocks the hall fireplace. However the late C17
parlour fireplace is exposed; granite rubble with curving pentan and plain oak
lintel. Roof not inspected but the bases of steeply-pitched A-frame trusses show,
probably put there in the late C17 when the walls were raised. There is a hint of a
late C16 internal jetty at the upper end of the hall.
The front garden is enclosed by a low granite stone rubble wall probably put there
in 1892. Langston is a little modernised farmhouse in a a most picturesque group
setting. It shows a long development in which the Victorian work is as important as
the earlier structure.
Source. Private family diaries record the refurbishment of 1892 and mention the
conversion of the shippon. They also record much more interesting detail relating
to the organisation of the farm at the turn of the century.

Listing NGR: SX6732290115

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400026

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

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  For the Record