Berrator Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Later 15th century with 16th-century alterations and 17th-century addition, modernised in the 20th century. Rubble walls with gable-ended asbestos slate roof. Rubble lateral stack at front, truncated above the eaves. Tall rubble axial stack to rear wing and similar stack at its gable end.

The original plan incorporated several unusual features. The house apparently contained only two rooms, divided by a passage. At this date the hall would have been open to the roof timbers, probably with a central open hearth. The function of the right-hand room is debatable. It has always been unheated and has an original front external doorway of similar type to that at the passage front but noticeably wider. The room contains massive rough cross beams, suggesting an inferior function. The independent external access and heavy rough beams are indicative of a shippon, though no direct evidence exists. A complicating factor is the granite arched doorway in the gable end of this room, an unusual but not unknown feature for a longhouse; the different style suggests it may be later or re-used. The beams over the lower room are probably original, intended to carry a hay loft, and would have been at similar level to the screen at the lower end of the passage. The hall ceiling was probably inserted in the 16th century and is considerably higher, to fit over the tall hall window. A newel stair was added at the rear of the passage and a fireplace inserted at the front of the hall. In the 17th century a wing was added at the rear of the hall, consisting of two heated rooms, the first with an axial stack and the next with a gable-end stack. This slightly unusual arrangement presumably compensated for the lack of accommodation in the original house, particularly if half were a shippon. Probably in the 19th or early 20th century the hall was divided longitudinally into two rooms to create a dairy at the rear. The screen was removed from the lower side of the passage and replaced by a later partition. No evidence of a screen exists at the upper side of the passage, though a low one could easily have been removed.

Exterior: Two storeys. Asymmetrical four-window front. First floor windows are all circa early 19th-century 12-pane hornless sashes except the right-hand one, which is a small single-light 20th-century casement. To the left on the ground floor is a tall two-light granite mullioned and transomed 15th-century window of high quality. It has cinquefoiled lights, recessed spandrels and a square hoodmould in a moulded surround. By its height and position it appears intended to light an open hall. A window of this quality is unusual in a relatively small house; it has been suggested it comes from Buckland Abbey, but it appears to be in situ and the survival of a similar smaller window on the rear wall supports evidence for it being original to the house. Furthermore, the two shouldered-head chamfered wooden doorframes to the left and right of centre on the front wall are contemporary with the window. The left-hand doorway leads to the passage and its heavy oak-studded door with fleur-de-lys hinges, if not original, is certainly early. In front is a 19th-century open-fronted gabled porch incorporating a stone seat on the left-hand side. The doorway to the right is significantly wide with a 19th-century stable-type door. To its right is a possible blocked ventilation slit. To its left is a 20th-century three-light casement with small panes. Both window and doorway are under a slate pentice roof supported on heavy timber cantilevers with chamfered and rounded ends, which may be 17th century. At the right-hand end is a 20th-century French window. Attached to the right gable end is a lower outbuilding, probably 19th century, which conceals a blocked granite four-centred chamfered arched doorway in the gable end of the house. The left-hand gable wall was rebuilt earlier in the 20th century due to damage; it is built partly into the hillside with a road immediately adjoining and the house is positioned down a noticeable slope. At the rear of the left-hand end is a long 17th-century wing which partially conceals the stair projection at the rear of the passage. On the inner face of the wing to the left is a four-centred arched granite doorway behind a part-glazed 20th-century porch.

Interior: The massive rough closely-spaced beams in the right-hand lower end room are probably the earliest feature, one forked at the front. The passage and rear lobby leading to the wing has a considerably higher beamed ceiling with substantial chamfered cross beams and joists also chamfered and step-stopped. At the lower side of the passage is a lower beam with mortices for the removed plank and muntin partition. A dairy has been formed by later partitions in the rear of the hall and in its rear wall is a partially blocked two-light wooden mullioned window with cinquefoiled heads. The fireplace in the hall has been blocked but the large open hearth is likely to survive behind. The stone newel stairs at the rear of the passage have a worn wooden shouldered-head doorframe at the bottom. Leading to the rear wing is a segmental-headed chamfered granite doorframe with crude stops. The inner room of the wing has three fairly insubstantial chamfered cross beams with traces of hollow step stops. The axial fireplace has two ovens but has had its lintel replaced. Its left-hand granite jamb also functions as jamb for the adjoining segmental-headed doorway, which is chamfered with ogee stops. The roof structure appears to be entirely 20th century.

This house preserves a number of good features from several periods, although the earlier ones are of most interest, particularly the hall window, as features of this date and quality are unusual in farmhouses in West Devon. Equally interesting is the unusual plan form—originally only two rooms, one quite possibly a shippon—for which the features are of surprisingly high quality. If the lower room were a shippon it is interesting that for such an early house this was not a 'true' longhouse with shared access for humans and animals, but a developed form with separate access for each—this is probably a reflection of its high status.