Description

SX 68 NE GIDLEIGH

3/167 Berrydown Manor
-
22.2.67
- II

Large farmhouse. Probably C16 origins with C17 improvements (there is a datestone
of 1655), enlarged and rearranged in late C18, modernised circa 1980. Mostly
coursed blocks of granite ashlar, the late C18 work neater and more regular, and
some granite stone rubble patching; granite stacks with granite ashlar chimney
shafts; slate roof, the older wing was formerly thatch.
Plan: basically an L-shaped building. The old farmhouse was a 3-room-and-through-
passage plan Dartmoor longhouse built down the hillslope and facing south. The
shippon at the downhill right (east) end has now been brought into domestic use.
The hall has an axial stack backing onto the through passage. In the late C18 the
house was rearranged when a new wing housing the principal rooms was built at right
angles to the old farmhouse projecting forward from the inner room and facing east.
The 2 main rooms of the new main block have axial stacks on their outer ends and are
separated by an entrance hall and main stairs. Smaller third room on left
(southern) end. 2 storeys throughout with outshots to rear of main block.
Exterior: the present main block has a 4-window front. The left end has a ground
floor horned 12-pane sash and first floor late C18 casement containing rectangular
panes of leaded glass. The rest is a symmetrical 3-window arrangement, flanking 16-
pane sashes and central first floor 12-pane sash, arranged about central front
doorway. The doorway is C17 and, it appears, has been reset from the farmhouse
block; built of granite ashlar it is round-headed with broad bead-moulded surround
with eared head. The spandrels are carved with shields and oak leaves, the left
shield inscribed 1R, the right one 1655. The panelled door is late C18. Blocked
secondary door between the 3 and 1-window sections. The farmhouse section has an
irregular 3-window front; C20 french windows to the ground floor and 16-pane sashes
to the first, one of them horned. Both roofs are gable-ended and the roof of the
farmhouse steps down in the centre. The C19 gutter along the main front and the
higher section of the farmhouse has cast iron lions masks over the joints.
Interior has plain carpentry detail where exposed and all appears to be late C18 and
later. The ceilings of the farmhouse section appear to have been raised as does the
roof although this was not inspected. Besides the front doorway the only feature
earlier than the late C18 is the old hall fireplace. It is granite ashlar with plain
surround and with relieving arch over; it is probably late C16 - early C17.

Listing NGR: SX6653487913

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26440598

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)