Langston Farmhouse North Including Garden Wall Adjoining To Front

Langston Farmhouse North

This is a farmhouse of probable 16th-century origins, formerly a Dartmoor longhouse, with late 17th-century improvements and major renovation in 1892. The front is plastered, while the ends and rear display granite rubble walls with large quoins and in places massive blocks, with walls raised in cob above. Granite stacks are present, one retaining its original granite ashlar chimney shaft with moulded coping. The roof is thatched, with corrugated iron covering an outshot.

The building originally followed a 3-room-and-through-passage plan typical of Dartmoor longhouses, facing south-east and built down the hillslope. The shippon was positioned to the right (downhill) of the passage, with the hall containing an axial stack backing onto the passage. In the late 17th century, the inner room was refurbished as a parlour with an end stack. The major 1892 refurbishment transformed the interior: the inner room became a dairy, the hall became a dining room, and a single-storey outshot with an end stack was added to the rear for a kitchen. The rear of the passage was blocked and a new stair built off its back end, rising up the rear wall of the hall. A new parlour was created in the upper end of the former shippon, with an axial stack, while the rest of the old shippon became a stable or coach house. The house is two storeys throughout.

The irregular three-window front dates from the 1892 refurbishment, with most windows as casements with glazing bars, though the parlour, hall, and parlour chambers have 16-pane sashes. The front passage doorway, positioned right of centre, contains a contemporary six-panel door. Much of the front has been replastered since 1892, though some of that scheme survives, featuring a plain eaves cornice and flat stucco architraves around the windows, with the remainder incised as ashlar. The roof is gable-ended. The right gable end shows evidence of former shippon use, including a slit window, hayloft loading hatch, and a blocked cow doorway.

The interior largely reflects the 1892 refurbishment, with most contemporary detail surviving. Plaster of that date covers much carpentry detail, and a contemporary marble chimneypiece blocks the hall fireplace. However, the late 17th-century parlour fireplace remains exposed, constructed of granite rubble with a curving pentan and plain oak lintel. Though the roof was not inspected, the bases of steeply-pitched A-frame trusses are visible, likely installed in the late 17th century when the walls were raised. A hint of a late 16th-century internal jetty survives at the upper end of the hall.

The front garden is enclosed by a low granite stone rubble wall, probably erected in 1892. The farmhouse stands in a picturesque group setting and demonstrates a long development sequence in which the Victorian work is as significant as the earlier structure. Private family diaries record the 1892 refurbishment and the conversion of the shippon, and document much detail relating to the farm's organisation at the turn of the century.