Nattonhole Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Apparently dating to the mid 17th century, although the layout suggests earlier origins. It is constructed of plastered local stone rubble, with the east end exposed and featuring large dressed granite quoins. The stacks are of stone rubble with original granite ashlar chimneyshafts, and the roof is thatched. The building has a long, four-room-and-through-passage plan typical of a Dartmoor longhouse, built across a hillslope facing south-southwest. The original parlour is at the right (east) end, with a projecting gable-end stack. The hall has a large axial stack backing onto the passage, and a large stair turret projects to the rear; the rear of the passage is now blocked by a secondary stair. A kitchen is located on the lower side of the passage, with a large lateral stack projecting to the rear. A shippon with a hayloft is situated at the left (west) end. It is possible that the hall was originally used as a kitchen, with the lower end kitchen being a later conversion from a dairy. The farmhouse is two storeys throughout, with secondary outshots at the rear of the hall and parlour. The exterior has an irregular four-window front, with a fifth window to the shippon, all featuring 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The passage front doorway, slightly left of centre, has a 20th-century part-glazed four-panel door behind a contemporary slate-roofed porch. The shippon has a cow doorway with a hayloft loading hatch directly above, both with plain plank doors. The roof is gable-ended. The interior features crossbeams with double ovolo mouldings in both the hall and parlour, separated by an oak plank-and-muntin screen. The screen’s muntins have shallow mouldings on both sides, with scroll stops to the hall and urn stops to the parlour. Plain carpentry detail is evident in the kitchen and shippon. The roof structure consists of A-frame trusses mortise-and-tenoned onto short wall posts. The "principal bedroom," presumably above the parlour, has late 17th-century ornamental plasterwork featuring a centrepiece of stylized stiff foliage. Nattonhole is an interesting farmstead, a Dartmoor longhouse entirely rebuilt in the mid 17th century, displaying carpentry detail similar to Drascombe Barton. It is located less than 400 metres from Drascombe Barton and Hobhouse Farmhouse.