Barn, Calf House And Linhay Approximately 2 Metres South Of Higher Shilstone Farmhouse

SX 69 SE THROWLEIGH

1/209 Barn, calf house and Linhay - approximately 2 metres south of 20.7.74 Higher Shilstone Farmhouse GV II*

Barn, calf house and linhay. All three are probably C17 but not necessarily contemporary. Granite stone rubble laid to rough courses with large dressed quoins, some cob on wall tops; corrugated iron roof to barn and pig sties, slate to the linhay (all formerly slate). Plan and description: Range of farmbuildings built end to end facing the farmyard to north. They are built down a relatively steep hillslope. The barn is at the left (eastern) end at the downhill end. It is gable-ended with opposing central doorways to the threshing floor. The front doorway is nearly full height and contains double doors, the right one split into flaps, set in a solid timber frame. The eaves are carried down a short distance as a hood over the doorway. Smaller rear door. The left end wall contains a series of ventilation slits. Inside the barn it is open to a C17 6-bay roof of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. The timber baulks of the threshing floor are much-decayed. The calf house is set between barn and linhay. It is a low building containing 3 stalls with a small hayloft in the roofspace. The hayloft loading hatch is at the left end with the left stall door alongside. The right and centre stalls are wider than the left one. The front pitch of the roof is continued over them as the front breaks forward (it is flush with the front of the barn). Each stall has a separate doorway. The linhay at the uphill right end was given a boarded front circa 1985. The former open-fronted structure survives behind. It is 4 bays. The tallet/hayloft crossbeams rest on monolithic granite posts and above timber posts rise through the tallet. They have curved heads which are lap-jointed to the front principals of A- frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. All the roofs are gable-ended and all the doors are of plain C19 joinery. These traditional Dartmoor farmbuildings form a group with Higher Shilstone Farmhouse and stables (q.v) and the dung pit (q.v). The Farmhouse is one of the best surviving examples of a Dartmoor longhouse and therefore this group is of immense importance.

Listing NGR: SX6602290125