Burrow Hill Farmhouse

Burrow Hill Farmhouse is likely of 15th-century origin, with significant remodelling occurring around the early and later 17th century, and further alterations in the 20th century. The building is constructed of plastered cob and has a thatched roof with half-hipped and gabled ends. Brick chimney shafts are present on the axial and gable ends.

The original layout comprised a three-room plan with a through-passage. The lower end of the house, to the left, was heated by a fireplace within a gable-end stack. The hall had an axial stack backing onto the passage, and the inner room initially appeared to have been separated from the hall by a timber-framed partition extending to the roof apex, potentially containing a chamber above. Around the early 17th century, the hall was floored, a new axial stack was added backing onto the through-passage, and a stair turret was constructed at the front, incorporating a winding staircase alongside the stack. A kitchen fireplace is located within the stack at the lower end, alongside a small projecting room in the turret’s corner.

The west front has an asymmetrical five-window arrangement and features 1-, 2-, and 3-light casements with glazing bars. A projection on the left corner displays a chamfered 2-light window frame, while a 4-light window is situated on the first floor to the right. A stair turret projects to the left of the through-passage doorway, which contains a plank door. Three large, raking buttresses are positioned across the front. The rear (north) elevation has a four-window range, with a recessed left end, casements with glazing bars, a 17th-century frame on the right-hand side, and a 4-light chamfered mullion frame above.

The interior of the farmhouse remains largely unaltered, aside from the remodelled inner room. The lower end room exhibits cross-beams, one with straight-cut and run-out stops, and another deeply chamfered with hollow step stops. A roughly chamfered bressumer sits above a blocked gable-end fireplace, with a former oven or smoking chamber to the right and a small projecting room to the corner with a chamber above. Within the through-passage is an unchamfered plank-and-muntin screen. The hall features a deeply chamfered cross-beam with hollow step stops and a blocked fireplace within the stack backing onto the through-passage. Newel stairs are located within the projecting turret on the front. Attic chambers are ceiled. A substantial timber-framed partition separates the hall and inner room chambers, both of which have plastered-over cruck-trusses and exposed purlins. The floor level of the inner room chamber is higher than that of the hall chamber, while the lower end chamber floor is lower than the hall chamber. A narrow chamber is situated above the through-passage. The lower end chamber displays a raised cruck within the roof structure, incorporating a mortice-and-tenoned collar, trenched purlins, and a diagonal ridgepiece. The roof space above the high end of the house has not been inspected.

Burrow Hill Farmhouse is a good example of a traditional late medieval Devon farmhouse.