Nordon Thatch Farmhouse

Norden Thatch Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 16th or 17th century, refurbished in the 19th century. It is constructed of granite stone rubble with granite stacks topped with 19th-century brick and has a thatched roof. The original layout was a three-room-and-through-passage plan facing north-east and built down a hillslope. The former inner room at the uphill left end was unheated and has been opened up to enlarge the hall. The hall features a large axial stack that backs onto the passage, and there is a newel stair turret projecting to the rear near the upper end. The service end room has an end stack. There is a possibility that the house was originally a Dartmoor longhouse, with the lower service end room serving as a shippon, but there is no concrete evidence for this. The house likely started as an open hall house, but an internal inspection was not available during the survey, so its early development remains unclear. It is now two storeys high with secondary rear outshots.

The exterior has an irregular five-window front with 20th-century replacement casements featuring glazing bars. The front passage doorway is located to the right of centre and contains a 20th-century part-glazed door behind a contemporary gabled porch with a thatched roof supported by rustic posts. The roof is gable-ended. Although the interior was not inspected during the survey, there appears to be extensive 19th-century carpentry detail and a large granite ashlar fireplace from possibly the late 16th or early 17th century. Other features, possibly including the 16th or 17th-century roof structure, may also survive. Norden Thatch is an attractive farmhouse in Dartmoor and is part of a group with the oldest associated farm buildings.