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Summary

Silk House is a former farmhouse on the Fernworthy Estate of the Davie family and is depicted, apparently in use, on an estate map of 1807. Farmstead probably of late Medieval origin. The building has been virtually destroyed by the making of a forest ride running north-south through it. The wall forming the east end of the building still survives on the east side of the ride. A square enclosure attached to the north side of an old field boundary lies to the west of the ride.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE293
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1064229
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/193

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Built, Late Medieval - 1401 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Greeves, T., 13/5/1983, Silk House (Worksheet). SDV265496.

Site visit 13th May 1983. Ruined building marked as Silk House on 1963 Ordnance Survey map. The building has been virtually destroyed by the making of a forest ride running north-south through it. The wall forming the east end of the building still survives on the east side of the ride. A square enclosure attached to the north side of an old field boundary lies to the west of the ride.

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

Silk House marked in red implying it was an occupied dwelling (plot 370).

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

Ruined farmstead shown.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Ruined building marked as Silk House.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, Map 35 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Building depicted by Butler.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project, S. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(03/06/1995) The site of Silk House is now overlain by an embankment which carries a Forestry Commission track servicing the Lowton Brook area of Fernworthy Forest. Silk House is a former farmhouse on the Fernworthy Estate of the Davie family and is depicted, apparently in use, on an estate map of 1807 (Duchy of Cornwall 1807 'Map of Sir John Davie's New Enclosure adjoining to Fernworthy'). A further, undated map, describes the house and court as ruinous (Duchy of Cornwall undated 'Map of the Estate called Fernworthy, Higher and Lower Lowton, Silkhouse and Assacombe The Property of Sir Humphrey P Davie'). The enclosures formerly associated with the farm now form part of Fernworthy Forest.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 38-41, 51 Figs 32, 41-2 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Silk House is shown as an L-shaped building on a map of 1796 but the colours used to delineate the fields suggest that the land belonging to the farm had been absorbed into Fernworthy Farm by this time. Its depiction on a map of the Fernworthy estate of 1807 suggests that it was still occupied. A tracing of the earlier map with a catalogue dated about 1825 comfirms that its lands had been absorbed into Fernworthy. These had formed a compact unit bounded by the River Teign, Assacombe and Lowton Brooks. The house and farm courtyard were in the south-east corner of the holding. Unfortunately, the house was largely destroyed when a forestry track was driven through it.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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