Higher Tor Farmhouse

This is a late medieval farmhouse, originally a longhouse, located in Widecombe-in-the-Moor. It suffered significant fire damage in 1982 but has since been carefully restored. The farmhouse is constructed of granite rubble with a thatched roof, hipped at the left-hand end; a later range to the right is partially slated and partially covered with corrugated iron. A granite chimneystack with a tapered top, formerly serving the hall fireplace, rises from the ridge towards the right-hand end. The original plan consisted of three rooms and a through-passage, with a shippon (animal shelter) occupying the lower room to the left. Unusually for Devon, the hall fireplace is situated at the upper end, rather than backing onto the passage, and the room to the right of the hall lacks a fireplace. A lean-to projection, likely a later addition, fronts the hall. The two-storey main house section has two windows, all with 20th-century wood casements. A stone entrance porch with a pent roof is positioned at the front. The former shippon has a separate door with a plain granite lintel, and a ventilation slit is located to its left. The addition to the right appears to have functioned as a linhay, evidenced by a granite post in the centre. A gabled projection with a flight of old stone steps in front sits to the right of the linhay.

Inside, the front door has a cambered wood lintel. A stone wall separates the passage from the hall. The hall contains a fireplace with splayed granite jambs and a wood lintel carved with the initials "RH" and the date 1632, along with an oven in the back of the fireplace. The upper-floor beams over the hall are chamfered with straight-cut stops, and the joists have scratch mouldings. The door to the inner room has a cranked wooden head. The staircase to the upper floor is situated on the rear side of the stack, with a granite bottom step. The roof retains four raised cruck trusses, one over the shippon and three over the hall. These crucks, ridge and common rafters are roughly trimmed tree trunks, and the blades do not meet at the apex, instead being linked by yokes passing through them, secured by pegs. Formerly, the thatch had a layer of wattles beneath, and the timbers were blackened from an open hearth. This suggests the building originated as a single-storey structure, with the hall stack and upper floor likely inserted in 1632. The house was originally recorded as an unconverted longhouse. It has been documented by M.W. Barley in The English Farmhouse and Cottage (1961) and E. Mercer in English Vernacular Houses (1975).