Barn And Linhay At Old Middlecott Farmyard

The barn and adjoining linhay at Old Middlecott Farmyard are notable structures that may date back to the 16th century, with the linhay likely added in the 18th century. The barn is constructed from roughly dressed blocks of granite, some quite large, and features cob on the tops of the walls. The linhay is made of granite stone rubble with dressed quoins, and both buildings have corrugated iron roofs, which were originally thatched.

The buildings are arranged in an L-shape around the eastern corner of the farmyard. The barn faces northwest and has central doors leading to the threshing floor. When the linhay was added, a narrow one-bay byre entry was included at the left end, and the linhay was built at right angles, projecting forward and facing southwest.

The exterior of the barn features a full-height central doorway with 19th-century plank doors, flanked by short projecting midstrey walls, with the roof extending down as a hood. There is a smaller rear door with an old oak frame and a 19th-century granite shed with a monopitch roof at the right end. A 20th-century gate leads to the byre at the right end. The linhay consists of four bays and is open-fronted, except for the right end where the front of the byre is walled with granite. The crossbeams of the linhay rest on granite posts, with short timber posts rising through the tallet to support the roof trusses, following Alcock's linhay type S2. The barn's roof is half-hipped to the right and hipped to the left over the added byre, while the linhay has a gable-ended lower roof.

Inside, the buildings feature plain but sturdy carpentry details. Both roofs consist of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars, and some of the timbers in the barn roof are reused from an earlier structure. This barn and linhay are part of an attractive group of traditional Dartmoor farm buildings, with one of them, the milking parlour, originally serving as the farmhouse.