Pizwell Cottage

Pizwell Cottage is a longhouse, likely dating from the 16th century, although no specific dateable features are visible. The higher end of the building has been significantly altered and extended in the later 20th century. It features granite rubble walls and a gable-ended slate roof, with two rendered axial stacks added in the 20th century.

The layout consists of a longhouse plan with a shippon at the left end, a passage, a hall, and an inner room at the right. The exact location of the passage is now unclear, as it has likely been incorporated into the shippon, which has a smaller subdivided section at its higher end. The house end has been completely modernised in the later 20th century, and a one-room extension has been added at its higher end.

The exterior is two storeys high with an asymmetrical three-window front featuring late 20th-century one and two-light casements. The right-hand windows are part of the extension. There is a small probably 19th-century lean-to to the left of centre in front of the hall/passage. The shippon at the left end has a doorway to the right and two first-floor loading doors. Its lower gable end retains original slit openings, including one in the gable and three at ground level, along with a drainage hole at ground level. There are remains of an outshut at the rear of the shippon.

Inside, there are no original or early features visible in the house part. However, the shippon remains completely unaltered, retaining its original cobbled and stone-paved floor with a central drain. The cattle standings that survive are likely not original but are in their original positions, with drilled holes at the base. The roof timbers have been entirely replaced in the 20th century.

Despite the alterations to its higher end, Pizwell Cottage remains recognisably a longhouse, with a particularly well-preserved example of an unaltered shippon. It is located within a traditional group of three longhouses, and the site of Pizwell was one of the 17 Ancient Tenements of the Forest of Dartmoor, first mentioned in documents in 1260.