Higher Parford Farmhouse

Higher Parford Farmhouse is likely from the 16th and 17th centuries. It is constructed of plastered stone rubble, possibly with cob, featuring stone rubble stacks topped with 19th-century brick. The hall chimney shaft has a granite ashlar base and brick above, although its original granite coping with a crenellated top has been reset on the brick. The building has a thatched roof.

Originally a three-room-and-through-passage plan house facing east-south-east, it was built down a hillside. The inner room has a projecting gable-end stack, terraced into the north end. This is set slightly back, making the hall windows appear as a bay. An axial stack backs onto the passage in the hall. A long, unheated service room is located at the downhill left end, with a secondary service outshot projecting at right angles to the rear of the inner room, now used as a kitchen. Without internal inspection, the historic development is not fully understood, but it seems likely it was initially an open hall house, possibly heated by an open hearth fire. The long downhill service room might suggest it was once a Dartmoor longhouse with a shippon. The house is now two storeys throughout.

The front has an irregular five-window facade with a mix of 19th and 20th-century casement windows; some contain rectangular panes of leaded glass, others have glazing bars, and some later windows also feature rectangular panes of leaded glass. The front passage doorway is left of centre and contains an early 20th-century plank door behind a contemporary trellis porch. The roof is gable-ended to the right and hipped to the left.

Although an internal inspection was not possible at the time of survey, the house appears to have undergone only superficial 19th and 20th-century modernisations. It is said to include an oak plank-and-muntin screen, and other 16th and 17th-century features are suspected throughout. The roof may be late medieval.

Higher Parford is a well-preserved Devon farmhouse, likely dating from the 16th century with 17th-century improvements. The owner has reported the discovery of an oak window with cusped lights, presumed to be early 16th century. A proper internal survey is recommended before undertaking any building work to avoid affecting potential 16th or 17th-century features.