Description

WIDECOMBE-IN-
SX 77 NW THE-MOOR
2/171 Hatchwell Farmhouse
-

- II

House, formerly a longhouse. C16 or possibly earlier, probably with wing added in
late C16 or early C17; added lean-to on west side of former shippon. Roughcast
solid walls, probably of stone; the north gable-wall is of exposed granite rubble.
Asbestos-slated roofs, the shippon roof lower than that of the house part. On the
centre of ridge of main range, at right-hand end of house part, a well-made granite
chimneystack with integral thatch-weatherings and tapered top; on the gable-wall
below it is a series of drip-stones, protecting the shippon roof. In the gable-wall
of wing is a projecting stack with offsets, thatch-weatherings and tapered top, the
whole covered with roughcast. Plan is the usual longhouse one : hall and inner room
to left, shippon (now a kitchen) to right. Front door opens into upper end of
former shippon with the back of the hall stack on the left-hand side; there was
formerly a cross-passage, but the partition with former shippon has gone. Shippon
formerly had a separate entrance. At right-angles to the rear wall of the main
range, at the junction of hall and shippon, is a further room (probably designed as
a parlour) with gable-fireplace. 2 storeys; lean-to single-storeyed. Main (west)
front is 2 windows wide; all windows are C20. The shippon end, clearly of a
different build, is set back slightly; it has no upstairs windows this side. The
former shippon door, immediately to the right of the main door, has been blocked and
a window inserted.
Interior: hall fireplace has a heavy, chamfered granite lintel supported at the
left-hand end by a well-cut, rounded corbel; the right-hand side has been rebuilt,
probably to insert an oven which itself has now been filled in. Above the lintel,
visible in the room above, is a good relieving arch, the space between it and the
lintel filled with rubble masonry. The back of the fireplace towards the shippon is
of granite ashlar, although it lacks the plinth and cornice often found in Dartmoor
houses. The fireplace is of remarkable quality for a longhouse, especially one as
small as this; corbelled fireplaces are extremely rare in Devon farmhouses of any
kind. Upper-floor beam of hall is chamfered with step-stops. Next to the stack, at
the junction with the wing, is an open, winding stone staircase built up against the
stone wall with the shippon; the wall protrudes at an awkward angle into the
shippon, as if it were a later insertion. At the upper end of the hall a stone wall
(rising only the height of the ground storey) divides off the narrow inner room.
Towards the hall this wall contains a rectangular recess halfway up, and there is a
similar feature in the gable-wall of the inner room. The wing room has a chamfered
upper-floor beam with worn bar-stops. The gable-fireplace has granite jambs and
lightly-chamfered granite lintel. To right of it is a recess like those in the hall
and inner room. Roof-spaces not inspected, but trusses have plain, old feet rising
from the wall-tops.
The house is reputed to have deeds back to C17, now in possession of the former
owner at Dockwell Farm, Widecombe. The shippon was used for housing calves as
recently as the early 1960s.
Sources: information from the present owners, and from Mr and Mrs Brown of Dunstone
Manor, who lived at Hatchwell while it was still a working farm.

Listing NGR: SX7024177476

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26534565

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.

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