Description

BRATTON CLOVELLY
SX 49 SE

7/13 West Burrow Farmhouse

II*

Longhouse. Circa 1500 with C17 addition and C20 alterations. Rendered cob and
rubble walls. Thatched and corrugated iron roof, hipped at left-hand end, gabled at
right-hand end and rear wing. 3 stacks. 2 axial brick stacks, 1 to main block, 1
between rear wing and outbuilding extension; projecting rubble stack at right gable
end .
Longhouse plan of shippon at lower left end divided by passage from hall and inner
room. There is a full height solid wall between shippon and passage and the shippon
has its own external doorway adjoining the passage door but the existence of an
original internal door between the 2 shows that they are co-eval although the cattle
may always have used a separate entrance. A solid wall also divides the hall and
inner room continuing on the 1st floor, but it is not possible to tell if the inner
room is original. Lack of access to the roof space precludes any evidence of this
or whether the house originally had an open hall with central hearth but the early
type of roof truss and doorways suggest that it may have done; both hall and inner
room fireplaces appear to be C17 and date from alterations which probably also
included the addition of a hall projection at the front. The rear wing of one small
room behind the inner room is also C17; its fireplace is now blocked so the date of
its stack is unclear, if originally unheated the room is likely to have been a
dairy, otherwise it may have been a kitchen. In the C20 the ceiling beams of the
hall and inner room were replaced and the rear door of the passage and that from
passage to shippon blocked. The stairs were also altered although probably
retaining their original position at the rear of the hall.
2 storeys. The house is set down a slope with the shippon at the lower left end.
Asymmetrical 3-window front with hall bay projecting to right of centre. Late
C19/early C20 casements with glazing bars on first floor, ground floor windows are
similar but later C20. At the centre is original doorway to passage with chamfered
wooden frame which has shouldered and cranked head almost forming a 4-centred arch
and probably C19 plank door. To its left is doorway into shippon which is probably
original but very plain with rough wooden lintel. Towards the left end of the
shippon is a very small square window opening and on the first floor to its right is
a probably inserted loading doorway. The gable end of the shippon has a stone
framed drainage hole at ground level and a slit opening above to either side. At
the rear to the left is a very small wing which has been extended by probably C19
outbuildings. The passage rear door has been blocked and an adjoining doorway to
the right inserted into the shippon.
Interior remains relatively unaltered apart from the insertion of C20 ceiling beams
in hall and inner room. The small rear room has closely spaced fairly insubstantial
ceiling beams, chamfered with hollow step stops.
The hall fireplace has a chamfered wooden lintel with worn stops. Built into the
inner wall of the hall is a 'creamer' - originally used for making cream - which has
been blocked underneath but the recess above remains. The inner room fireplace has
a chamfered wooden lintel with straight cut stops. Above it is a small wooden panel
ornately carved with a grotesque face and a vine motif either side. To the right of
the fireplace is a cupboard with tall double doors each of 3 moulded panels with a
lozenge shape carved in high relief on each, also moulded. The doors are not flush
with the wall but project and probably come from another house as the carved wooden
panel may also do, both appear to be good quality C17 work, however.
At the lower side of the passage is a heavy chamfered wooden door frame with 2-
centred arch and original wide oak studded door - this has been blocked off on the
shippon side. The passage has cross beams with a narrow chamfer and hollow step
stops.
Over the hall a pair of face-pegged jointed crucks can be seen; there is, however,
no access to the roof space so further details of construction or evidence of smoke-
blackening cannot be seen. The shippon roof does not retain its original timbers
but has rough C19 principal rafters with collars lapped and pegged to the
principals. Its floor has been concreted.
This is an unusual survival of a longhouse with unconverted shippon which is also
not in a typical moorland or moorland fringe position but stands several miles away
from Dartmoor. Though not a "true longhouse" in the purist sense because a solid
full-height wall exists between shippon and passage, it seems clear that it is a
late medieval house with integral accommodation for animals and humans and internal
access from the domestic end to the animal end. As such it could be defined as a
"developed longhouse" plan.

Listing NGR: SX4908991718

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537332

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)