Description

SX 68 NE CHAGFORD

3/27 Great Frenchbeer Farmhouse
20.2.52
- II

Farmhouse, former Dartmoor longhouse. Probably C16 origins but extensively rebuilt
in the early of mid C17, refurbished in early C20, modernised 1986. Mostly
plastered granite stone rubble but some of the lower parts of the walls include
large blocks of dressed granite; timber-framed and weather-boarded upper storey to
the outshots; granite stacks, one with its original granite ashlar chimney shaft,
the others plastered brick; house has thatched roof, shippon and outshots have slate
roofs.
Plan and development: 3-room-and-through-passage plan longhouse built down a slope
facing south-east with the inner room parlour on the uphill left (south-western)
end. It has an end stack with a newel stair alongside. The hall has an axial stack
backing onto the passage. The shippon is on the downhill end and part of it has
been taken by a dairy. There are 2-storey outshots across the back of the main
house. These might well be as early as the C17 but the upper storey was added in
circa 1910. The house probably began as an open hall house in the late medieval
period but the C17 refurbishment was so thorough that it must be regarded as a
single build house and has been 2 storeys throughout since then.
Exterior: irregular 4-window front of mostly late C19-early C20 casements with
glazing bars. However, in the early C20, a granite 2-light window with chamfered
mullion was put into the inner room and another to the chamber above, the latter
with an eyebrow over. At the same time a doorway was inserted alongside and it
contains a plank door. The original front passage doorway with soffit-chamfered
lintel is right of centre and it too contains a plank door. Alongside to left is a
C19 oven projection. At the shippon end there is a roughly central cow-door flanked
by slit windows. In fact the left slit window is in the blocking of the original
cow-door. First floor hayloft loading hatch towards the right end. The roof is
gable-ended to left and hipped to right. Original drain hole in right end wall.
Interior: is largely intact. The hall has a 3-bay ceiling on soffit-chamfered
crossbeams with step stops. The granite fireplace has ashlar sides and lintel with
a chamfered surround. It is unusually shallow. The side oven is lined (or relined)
with brick. At the upper end of the hall there is an oak plank-and-muntin screen.
The headbeam is soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped over each panel and the muntins
are moulded. It is the same both sides and there is still an oak bench fixed to it
on the hall side. The crossbeam in the parlour is the same as those in the hall.
The fireplace here is granite ashlar with a soffit-moulded lintel which is not
completed down the jambs. On the lower side of the passage the granite wall there
includes a low doorway to the dairy. The shippon end has 3 roughly-finished
crossbeams. The cow stalls are C20. The roof over the shippon is late C19 or early
C20 and made up of A-frames with nailed collars. The rest of the roof is
inaccessible but is thought to be C17 A-frame trusses.

Listing NGR: SX6750985816

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26459494

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

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  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability