Collihole Farmhouse

Collihole Farmhouse is a farmhouse and former Dartmoor longhouse, probably of the 16th century but largely rebuilt in the early or mid-17th century. It was renovated and its shippon converted to domestic use around 1980. The building is constructed of granite stone rubble, exposed to the rear and whitewashed to the front, with granite stacks and granite ashlar chimney shafts. The roof is thatched and gable-ended.

The farmhouse follows a 4-room-and-through-passage plan typical of Dartmoor longhouses, facing south-east and built down a slope. The present kitchen at the left (south-west) end is terraced into the slope and was probably formerly a parlour; it has a gable end stack. Between this room and the hall lies an unheated former dairy. The hall contains a large axial fireplace backing onto the passage and from the mid-17th century was probably the kitchen. The dairy and hall were knocked together and the rear passage doorway blocked in the 20th century. The shippon at the right (north-eastern) end was converted to domestic use around 1980 when it was given a gable end stack. 20th-century stairs are located in the shippon end; the site of former stairs is unknown. Secondary storage outshots are present at each end. Most of the exposed carpentry dates from the 17th century, making early development difficult to establish, though the hall was probably open to the roof originally. The building is now two storeys throughout.

The front elevation is irregular with five windows of 19th and 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The first-floor windows towards the left (uphill) end have thatch eyebrows over them. The front passage doorway, set right of centre, contains a 17th-century oak doorframe with chamfered surround with worn stops. The studded oak plank door is probably contemporary, fitted with plain strap hinges and two applied panels. The porch, also possibly 17th-century, has rubble walls and a monopitch slate roof, containing oak benches either side. The window immediately right of the porch blocks the former shippon cow door. The dairy window also blocks a former doorway. A secondary doorway at the left end lies behind a 20th-century concrete-tile roofed porch. An irregular row of pigeon holes is set high in the wall at the shippon end. A large rubble-walled store with a leanto thatch roof stands at the right end, and a small slate-roofed woodstore at the left end; both are secondary structures. The left end has a 20th-century door to the first floor accessed by a short flight of steps from a terrace. To the rear, the former shippon retains a narrow slit window, with another at first-floor level in the right end wall.

The interior shows mostly 17th-century carpentry detail. In the through passage, the ashlar back of the stack has a soffit-chamfered cornice and chamfered plinth, and is inscribed with 20th-century occupants' names. The hall contains a large granite fireplace with an enormous lintel and a roughly-chamfered surround, including a side oven to the left. The crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with step stops, and the similarly-finished half beam at the upper end is set slightly forward from the partition, possibly indicating an internal jetty before the hall was floored over. The dairy has an axial beam, also soffit-chamfered with step stops and alcoves (possibly cooling cupboards) in the walls. The inner room parlour has no exposed carpentry, and its granite fireplace has a replacement lintel. The shippon, though converted around 1980, retains its earlier rough and waney crossbeams.

The roof was apparently renewed in the 17th century, although earlier trusses appear to have been reused over the shippon end. The end truss has a 16th-century apex form with a small yoke (Alcock's apex type L1), and nearby trusses have been altered above collar level. They are A-frame trusses, though the bases of the principals show evidence that their curving feet have been hacked back and cut off, suggesting they may originally have been cruck trusses. They are however clean. The remainder of the roof comprises 17th-century A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. Presumably due to a shortage of suitable timber, some old pieces of carpentry with odd-shaped waney timbers and pieces scarfed together are present.

Collihole Farmhouse is an interesting and attractive farmhouse forming part of a good group of buildings in the hamlet with its nearby barn, Collihole Cottage, and their butterwells.