Kingshead Farmhouse

WIDECOMBE-IN- SX 77 NW THE-MOOR 2/179 Kingshead Farmhouse -

GV II

Farmhouse; possibly a former longhouse. House part appears to be early C19, but with a chimney that could well be C17; at the left-hand end is a shippon that may be the remnant of a much earlier longhouse. Granite rubble. House has slated roof, hipped at left-hand end. Shippon is covered with corrugated iron. House has a big granite ashlar chimneystack with tapered top to left of ridge, next to the hip; smaller granite ashlar stack on right-hand gable, probably C19. House has an unusual double-depth plan, the rear section under a catslide roof. To the right are 2 rooms separated by a passage which leads to a staircase at the back; main living room is to left, parlour to right. Behind them, under the catslide, is the dairy with a stream channelled through it. At the left-hand end of the house is a wide through-passage with its own large fireplace backing on to that of the main living- room; there is no sign of a doorway into the shippon, but there is a blocked borrowed light. 2 storeys; shippon is lofted. House has 4-window front; C19 wood casements with glazing-bars, except for 2 sash windows to right of second storey. The 3 right-hand bays are symmetrically arranged with centre doorway, this having a plank door with gabled wooden hood above. The left-hand bay is set some way apart, and has a doorway in ground storey; this has a plank door and granite lintel consisting of a re-used piece of stone with a large round moulding on the lower edge. Shippon is set well back. It has a doorway at right-hand end with a loft door above. In centre of ground storey is an inserted window flanked by 2 blocked ventilation slits. Both window and door have concrete lintels. At left- hand corner of upper storey, just below the eaves, is a large granite corbel. The gable-wall has a ventilation slit at the top; there never seem to have been slits at a lower level, although part of the wall is obscured by an added lean-to. At base of wall is an original, carefully constructed drain outlet. Rear of shippon has a short range of pigsties built out at right-angles; just in front of it is a circular feeding trough with a raised piece in the centre, cut from a single piece of granite. Interior of house has few features. The living-room has an old bench fixed to the wall next to the passage. The through-passage at left-hand end has an old cobbled floor with granite trough at rear; fireplace has plain granite lintel. Interior of shippon concreted to make a C20 milking parlour.

Listing NGR: SX7119777602