Description

SX 69 SE DREWSTEIGNTON VENTON

4/132 Middle Venton Farmhouse

GV II*

Farmhouse, former Dartmoor longhouse. Early or mid C16 with major later C16 and C17
improvements. Smallish blocks of roughly-shaped granite laid to rough courses and
large quoins, cob wall tops, front of house section is plastered; granite stacks
topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof, replaced with corrugated iron over the
shippon.
Plan and development: 3-room-and-through-passge plan Dartmoor longhouse facing
south-east and built diagonally across a gentle slope The rear and uphill end are
terraced into the hillslope. At the uphill left end is the inner room parlour with
a projecting gable-end stack. The hall has a large axial stack backing onto the
passage. The shippon is now used for storage. Since the roof structure was
completely replaced (probably at a higher level) in the C17 most of the evidence for
the earlier development of the house has been removed. Nevertheless it is likely
that it began as an open hall house probably heated by an open hearth fire. The
hall fireplace was inserted in the mid or late C16. The inner room was refurbished,
and probably enlarged, as a parlour in the mid C17. The hall was floored about the
same time and was thereafter used as a kitchen. In the C20 the passage front
doorway was blocked and the present doorway inserted into the parlour (which is now
used as the kitchen). 2 storeys.
Exterior: the house section has an irregular 3-window front of C20 casements with
glazing bars. Present doorway towards left end contains a C20 door behind a
contemporary gabled and slate-roofed porch. The ground floor right window of this
section is blocking the passage front doorway, The shippon section to right is
exposed granite. There is a cowdoor immediately to right of the blocked passage
front doorway. Towards the right end there is a window, probably a dung hatch over
a drain hole. The right end wall of the shippon has 2 slit windows and there is a
hayloft loading hatch in the rear wall. The rest of the rear wall is blind except
for the passage rear doorway. The roof is gable-ended.
Interior: the oldest feature in the house is the early or mid C16 oak doorframe
from passage to hall; it is round-headed with a chamfered surround. Hall has a
large granite fireplace with an oak lintel which is soffit-chamfered and has one
pyramid stop. The oven was relined with C19 brick. The hall crossbeam is soffit-
chamfered with step stops. The inner room fireplace has a granite fireplace with a
soffit-chamfered oak lintel and the crossbeam here is roughly soffit-chamfered. The
ground floor partitions are stone rubble, those on the first floor are timber
framed. The first floor partition between hall and inner room chambers may
incorporate an original truss. Otherwise the roof from end to end is carried on C17
A-frames with pegged lap-jointed collars. The shippon has roughly-finished
crossbeams. Middle Venton is one of the minority of Dartmoor longhouses where the
shippon is unmodernised. It is still essentially how it was when used as a cow byre
although the drain has been buried.

Listing NGR: SX6949391065

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537203

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)