Higher Venton Farmhouse Including The Garden Wall In Front Of The House

WIDECOMBE-IN- VENTON SX 77 NW THE-MOOR 2/256 Higher Venton Farmhouse 23.8.55 including the garden wall in front of the house (formerly listed GV as Venton) II Farmhouse, formerly a long house. C16 or earlier; porch added 1739, north-west wing in 1904. Granite rubble; front wall covered with roughcast. Thatched roof, hipped on left; entrance-porch tiled, lean-to in front of former shippon covered with corrugated iron. Old rendered ohimneystackon ridge behind entrance-porch and another towards right-hand end. Later granite stack on right gable. Plan has 3 domestic rooms to right of through-passage, the right-hand 2 and the 1904 wing now in separate occupation. Former shippon to left of passage has been converted to a kitchen since at least 1948; the far end is still occupied by calves. Entrance- porch has dairy built into right-hand side. 2 storeys; lean-to single-storeyed. House-part is 4 windows wide. C19 casements with glazing-bars, except for right- hand ground-storey window which is late C16 or C17; it is of 3 lights with hollow- moulded granite mullions. Immediately to the left of it is a chamfered granite doorway with an almost rounded arch. Above doorway is a metal sundial. Entrance- porch has doorway to left with a rounded granite head made from a single piece of stone; on it is carved the date 1739 and 2 illegible initials. Inside the porch to right is a stone seat; to left is a round archway leading into the lean-to, this being flanked by 2 more stone seats. Doorway to house has chamfered, straight- headed wood frame; C16 or C17 plank door with moulded ribs and wrought-iron strap- hinges. Shippon has a ventilation slit, now covered by the lean-to, and another one in the rear wall. Gable-wall of shippon has a flight of granite steps leading to the loft door; drain outlet runs under it. There seems to be a blocked ventilation slit to left of the steps. The garden wall in front of the house is of massive, mostly unmortared granite boulders. Interior: Former hall has fireplace, probably of C16, backing on to passage; chamfered granite jambs and lintel. Chamfered upper-floor beam with unusual, deeply-cut step-stop. Upper floor and right-hand end of house not inspected, but pre-1904 part of the latter is reported by the owner to have 2 stone staircases. Roof over shippon end has plain principal rafters with collars pegged to their faces. No common rafters. Source: information from the present owner, who says the 1904 wing was built by his predecessor.

Listing NGR: SX7216276069