Murchington Farmhouse

Murchington Farmhouse is an early 16th-century farmhouse, originally two cottages, with later 16th or 17th-century improvements, a 19th-century refurbishment and extension, and a renovation around 1975. The house is constructed of plastered granite stone rubble, with a cob top section, granite stacks (one possibly granite ashlar), and a thatched roof.

The house has an L-shape, with the main block built down a gentle slope facing north-east. It originally had a three-room-and-through-passage plan. A large inner room, serving as a parlour, is located at the uphill end with an end stack. A 19th-century staircase replaced an earlier stair alongside the parlour fireplace. The hall, previously containing a newel staircase that is now disused and converted into a cupboard, has a stack backing onto the passage. There is an unheated service end room. A 19th-century one-room extension stands to the rear of the left (service) end, with its own end stack. Originally, the house was an open hall house heated by an open hearth fire, evidenced by a surviving sooted roof truss. The inner room was enlarged into a parlour in the mid to late 17th century, and the roof structure was likely replaced at that time, relegating the hall to a kitchen. While resembling a Dartmoor longhouse, there is no definitive proof the service end room was used as a shippon.

The front of the house is irregular, with five windows containing 20th-century casements and glazing bars. The original front-passage doorway is on the left, and a doorway to the parlour is on the right (thought to be inserted in the 19th century). Both have 19th-century part-glazed panelled doors. A disturbance above the passage doorway is believed to contain timber framing and may indicate the former presence of a two-story porch. The roof is half-hipped to the left and gable-ended to the right.

Inside, the 16th- to 17th-century hall fireplace has a granite ashlar surround with a side oven and has been repaired in the 20th century. The ceiling features a three-bay arrangement of soffit-chamfered crossbeams with step stops; one crossbeam is roughly finished. The parlour fireplace is granite ashlar with a replacement oak lintel. An original true cruck truss with a cambered collar and yoke survives over the hall and shows signs of smoke blackening from the open hearth. Lower parts of the principals suggest 17th-century A-frame trusses. The rear extension contains only 19th-century structural detail. Joinery details throughout are of 19th and 20th centuries.

Murchington Farmhouse contributes to a group of attractive listed buildings in the hamlet.