Linhay And Storage Building To Rear Of No 40

The linhay and storage building, located behind No. 40 on Fore Street in Buckfastleigh, dates from the mid-19th century and is built from local grey limestone rubble with a corrugated-iron roof that is gabled at both ends. This structure is positioned at right angles to the houses on Fore Street and faces a narrow court paved with pitched stones, which runs down to Dean Burn. Access is provided via a cartway to the right of No. 40.

The linhay features four bays and is lofted, with stone rubble piers that are rectangular in shape. The loft and ground-floor bays are partly infilled with weatherboarding. The adjoining storage building, which has a barn-like appearance, is single storey and connects to the linhay at its southern end, possibly through a secondary block that may have served as a cartshed. The storage building includes a segmental-headed, dressed stone arched doorway at its northern end.

Inside the linhay, the roof construction is from the 19th century, and there is a reused drain pipe functioning as a stove pipe at the north end. Access to the storage building is not available. Both structures may have been linked to the wool industry or, more likely, to the dairy activities associated with No. 40, potentially used for storing horses, carts, and milk containers. The linhay is an unusual example of an urban type of this building, which is more commonly found in rural Devon for cattle, but it is documented as a typical feature of Devon wool towns in the 18th century, possibly used for wool-combing.