Cow House Approximately 25 Metres West Of Yardworthy Farmhouse

SX 68 NE CHAGFORD

3/88 Cow House approximately 25 metres - west of Yardworthy Farmhouse

GV II

Cow house, possibly built for some other function. Date of construction is difficult to determine but it is probably C16 or C17 but may be earlier, enlarged in C19, reroofed in C20. Built of massive blocks of granite ashlar, some patching and extension of granite stone rubble; corrugated iron roof. Plan and description: long low building facing east into the farmyard. It is built across the slope and terraced into it. The right end section is a C19 extension and its wide front doorway has been reduced in size. The larger original section contains a central doorway with granite porch and is flanked by blocked doorways. The porch is an original feature. Its walls are of granite ashlar and its roof is made up of large slabs of granite tilted very slightly outwards. The underside contains a hole near the left side which must have formed the upper hanging of the entrance door: the sill has been lost, and with it the bearing for the lower hanging. Down each inner side of the porch walls is a shallow rebate for the doorframe. There are windows in the rear wall directly opposite the front doors; the central 1 blocked. They are lined with slabs of ashlar and 1 contains similar bearings for a hanging shutter. Inside these windows appear high in the wall, but, because of the terracing, they are at ground level outside. Smaller original window in left (south) end. Roof is monopitch, sloping forwards. Interior: no early carpentry detail shows. The roof structure is C20. The stone rubble crosswall to left of the main original doorway is secondary. Small cupboard alcove to right of the original blocked right doorway. This is a very interesting building. The original function is not clear. Nor is it possible to date the building with any certainty. The massive ashlar masonry suggests a date between the C14 and C17.

Listing NGR: SX6786485162