South Creaber Farmhouse

The property is a farmhouse, likely dating back to the 16th century, with improvements made in the 17th century. It was modernised and partly rebuilt around 1920, with further modernisation work carried out around 1980. The house is constructed of granite stone rubble, incorporating a section of large, coursed granite ashlar. A portion of the service wing is plastered, with granite and brick stacks, the hall stack retaining its original granite ashlar chimney shaft. The roof is slate, and likely originally thatched prior to around 1920.

The house is arranged with a four-room plan facing north-west, built down a gentle slope. The south-west room is a kitchen with a gable-end stack. Adjacent to this is a former dairy, with a rear corridor connecting it to the hall. The hall features an axial stack backing onto the entrance hall, which contains the staircase. A parlour is located at the left end, also with a gable-end stack. The house’s structural history is complex, originating as a three-room-and-through-passage plan, with a reputed history as a Dartmoor longhouse. The section of granite ashlar work ends abruptly with a straight joint at the top of the dairy. The kitchen was probably added in the mid-17th century. Around 1920, the entrance hall and the left end were rebuilt, replacing the former through passage and shippon. The house is now two storeys throughout.

The front façade is irregular, with 1920s casement windows with glazing bars, with one dairy window enlarged around 1980. The right end is hidden by a service wing rebuilt around 1980. A doorway, originally part of the front passage, is now situated behind a rubble porch with a hipped roof, constructed around 1980. The main roof is gable-ended. The rear garden front is irregular with a five-window arrangement of late 19th and 20th-century casements, incorporating some 1920s, horned, four-pane sashes. The blocking of the former rear passage door is visible in the plasterwork.

Inside, the oldest feature is the hall fireplace, likely dating from the late 16th to early 17th century, constructed with granite ashlar and a hollow-chamfered surround. The dairy and hall show no notable carpentry details. The kitchen has a mid-17th-century soffit-chamfered crossbeam with scroll-stopped ends, although the fireplace has been rebuilt. The early fabric of the house may be preserved behind later plaster in the hall, dairy, and kitchen areas. The left end of the property is a complete rebuild from around 1920, and the entire roof was replaced at the same time.