Lizwell Farmhouse

WIDECOMBE-IN- SX 77 SW THE-MOOR 6/183 Lizwell Farmhouse 23.8.55 GV II

Farmhouse, possibly a former longhouse. Early C16 with right-hand end (possibly the former shippon) rebuilt in C18; left-hand end of main range may be basically medieval. Granite rubble, the older part of main range and the rear wing including some large-scale granite ashlar; left-hand end of front wall is covered with patches of old roughcast. Roofs covered with real slates, except for the older part of main range, which has asbestos slates; roof of rear wing, slightly higher than the rest, is hipped and has several old, handmade ridge-tiles with low crestings. Old chimneystack with stone weatherings on centre of ridge; smaller stack on each gable, the left-hand one with an added brick shaft. In rear wall of older part of main range is a very large stone stack. Plan consists of a cross-passage with 2 rooms to left (probably the former hall and inner rooms) and 2 further rooms rebuilt in C18) to right. Behind and at right-angles to the hall is a 1-room wing, probably a parlour with high-quality chamber over, added in early C16. The position of the chimneystacks is unusual for a Dartmoor farmhouse. It is very rare to find the hall fireplace in the rear wall of the hall; this one may even have had a second fireplace at the rear, heating the parlour. On the right-hand side of the cross- passage, abutting the section rebuilt in C18, is another old stack; this may have been inserted to heat a kitchen at the upper end of the shippon, a modification found in several Dartmoor longhouses. 2 storeys. 6-window front. Older part to left is 3 windows wide with 8-paned sashes, many of the panes containing old glass. Between-storeys in each of the 2 left-hand bays is a panel of slate-hanging. Old plank door in right-hand bay of this part, opening into cross-passage; above it is a C20 wooden hood with slated pent roof. Just to the right of the door is a full- height straight-joint, and at the top of the piece of wall between this and the doorway is a granite block carved with the date 1630 and 2 almost illegible initials; according to the former list these are R E with a heart between them. In the rebuilt right-hand section all the windows have 3-light C19 casements with 3 panes per light. The 2 ground-storey windows have flat arches with roughly-cut voussoirs. Between them is a doorway with a plain granite lintel; above it are some re-set fragments of medieval stone window-tracery. In the north-east wall of the rear wing, in the ground storey, is an early C16 granite window of 3 lights. The mullions have been removed, but the hollow-moulded round-arched heads remain, set within a rectangular hollow-moulded frame having a heavy hood-mould above. Interior: ground-storey room of wing has broad, chamfered upper-floor beams. Room above seems, from the occupants' description, to have roof-trusses with arch-braced collar-beams. Remainder of interior not inspected.

Listing NGR: SX7067174421