See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Remains of Teignhead Farm shown on 19th century maps which was established in 1780. It was requisitioned by the War Office in 1942 and never reoccupied

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SW102
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 621755
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SW/45

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Constructed, Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• FARMSTEAD (Constructed, Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• LAZY BEDS (Constructed, Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

'Teignhead Farm' shown on 19th century Tithe Map as a group of buildings in a rectilinear yard with a track to the north-east. The Apportionment for' Teignhead Farm' lists Field Number 306 as 'Dwelling House, Court and Garden'.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Harris, H., 1968, Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, 203 (Monograph). SDV149229.

The deserted remains of Teignhead Farm provide an example of an abandoned Dartmoor agricultural enterprise, though the decay of the house has recently been arrested.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 813-818 Photograph 402 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Teignhead Farm was established in 1780. Some magnificent gateposts were cut and slotted on Manga Hill and sledded down to the farm. A leat from Great Mire Stream brought water to a dripping well near the front door. In the house two alcoves were built on either side of the main fireplace which are still standing as are the side walls of the porch and a linhay at the south end of the house.

Starkey, F. H., 1987-1981, The area around Nun’s Cross Farm, 146-9 (Article in Serial). SDV345533.

Teignhead Farm was deserted as a result of military training in 1942. It was never re-occupied, its buildings were demolished in the late 1960's. Built in 1780 on land rented from the Duchy of Cornwall.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, S. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(22/03/1990) A brief description of Teignhead Farm and its occupants is given by authority 2 (Duchy of Cornwall Holdings on Dartmoor. Unpb Res MS RCHME). Though the first leases date from 1808 it is thought that the farm originated in the late C18th (Hemery, 1983, 813-818). Cultivation ceased when the farm was requisitioned by the War Office in 1942 and though handed back in 1950 it was never re-inhabited, the area is currently leased to two Duchy tenants and used solely as rough grazing.
The now-ruinous farmhouse at SX 63528435 (one of two mentioned in a lease of November 1808 (Duchy of Cornwall 5/11/1808 lease of 1551 acres to Mathew Crawford and Richard Fleming) consists of boulder walls with a loose growan packing standing up to 3.0m high. Measuring 4.0m by 10.6m internally it was probably subdivided by a wall to the right of the central entrance porch on the SE side. Blocked windows are visible in the NW side and a fireplace exists in the centre of the SW end. A single-room outbuilding abuts the SW end of the farmhouse.
The small fields around the farm are gradually reverting to moorland pasture. Two small areas of cultivation ridges (lazy beds) centred at SX 63538434 and SX 63638441 can however still be distinguished.
A pair of slotted gateposts (SX 68 SW 94) are visible on the SE side of the yard. Their presence endorses Hemery's (s) suggestion of a late C18th origin for the farmstead.
The second group of buildings (SX 68 SW 5) on Teignhead lie at SX 63918484 and are described by Hemery as Manga House. Their origin is probably contemporary with the main farm buildings though abandonment may have been much earlier.

White, P., 2013, Previously Unsurveyed Dartmoor Historic Farmsteads, Teignhead (Un-published). SDV352501.

Ordnance Survey map annotation shows a ruined farmstead at Teignhead Farm.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Teignhead Farm shown on modern mapping as several ruined buildings and yards surrounded by a group of small fields.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8651 - Teignhead Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.