Shilstone Farmhouse

Shilstone Farmhouse is a Grade II listed farmhouse with origins probably in the 16th century, though it was a Dartmoor longhouse in its original form. It underwent thorough refurbishment in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, with further modernisation in the 19th century and around 1950.

The building is constructed of granite stone rubble—some of it large-grade coursed stone—with sections of ashlar at the former shippon end. The chimneys are granite stacks with brick shafts dating probably to the late 17th or early 18th century. The roof is thatched.

The plan is L-shaped, with the main block facing east and built down the hillslope. Originally it followed the typical Dartmoor longhouse arrangement with a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. At the uphill right end, an inner room (now kitchen) has an end stack. The hall features an axial stack backing onto the former passage. A former kitchen block, now a sitting room, was built at right angles to the rear of the inner room in the late 17th or early 18th century, with a large stair turret inserted in the angle between the two wings. The main block was completely refurbished at this time and the roof structure was entirely replaced, probably at a higher level than the original.

Around 1950, the shippon fell out of use. Its roof was removed and the walls reduced to first-floor level. It was then converted to a terrace with a balcony added to the first-floor chamber over the former passage. The passage itself became a woodstore, and its front doorway was blocked. New front doors were inserted into the former hall and parlour at the same time.

The house is two storeys. The exterior presents an irregular 4-window front with late 19th and 20th century casements fitted with glazing bars. The right three-window section is symmetrical about the parlour doorway, a 20th century part-glazed door. The hall doorway is sheltered by a circa 1950 rubble porch with a thatched roof containing a plank door. The window to its left blocks the original passage front doorway. The roof is hipped at each end, particularly steeply at the left. The open shippon end includes a cow door immediately left of the blocked passage doorway, with two window embrasures to its left. The end wall of the shippon has three drain holes arranged vertically. The rear and former kitchen block has similar fenestration to the front.

Internally, the house reflects considerable 19th and 20th century modernisation, though the earlier plan remains intact, suggesting these works were largely superficial and earlier fabric survives beneath plaster. The main fireplaces are blocked by 20th century grates and both rooms have flat ceilings. The former kitchen fireplace received a segmental arched head in the 19th century and the oven was relined with brick at that time. The crossbeams there are unchamfered. The main stair dates to the late 17th or early 18th century and is a dogleg stair rising around a framed wall, with contemporary fielded panel doors also surviving.

Both roof structures date from the late 17th or early 18th century and are unusually tall and steeply pitched. The rear block roof is carried on A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. The front block trusses are similar but rest on tie beams and are braced by raking queen struts.

Shilstone is attractively located even by Dartmoor standards and forms part of a good group with associated farm buildings, the oldest of which are listed separately.