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Summary

House, formerly a longhouse. 16th century or possibly earlier, probably with wing added in late 16th or early 17th century; added lean-to on west side of former shippon. Has a fireplace of remarkable quality for a longhouse, especially one as small as this; corbelled fireplaces are extremely rare in Devon farmhouses of any kind. The shippon was used for housing calves as recently as the early 1960s, but is now converted.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1241704: HATCHWELL FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77NW/312

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LONGHOUSE (Built, XV to XVI - 1500 AD to 1599 AD (Between))

Full description

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

Hatchwell is shown on the Tithe Map; plot number 1090, 'House and waste', arable land. Owned and occupied by John Hannaford.

Beeson, M. M. R. + Masterman, M. C. H., 1979, An Archaeological Survey of Enclosed Land in Widecombe-In-The-Moor Parish, Vol II, 346 (sketch plan) (Report - Survey). SDV337078.

(24/7/1979) Hatchwell. This house is no longer the farmer's house, and owns only a small patch of field just below it. It has a spiral staircase to the south of the hearth fireplace, but there is nothing left off the central passage, and the shippon end has been considerably shortened. Remains of the rest of the shippon can be seen in a line of foundations jutting out from the present west end-wall. The owner has recently uncovered a bread-oven in the fireplace, but the interior lining has disintegrated. There is a ruined building at the northern end of the yard.

Department of Environment, 1986, Widecombe in the Moor, 101 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV289221.

House, formerly a longhouse. It is 16th century, or possibly earlier, probably with wing added in late 16th or early 17th century; added lean-to on west side of former shippon. Roughcast solid walls, probably of stone; the north gable- wall is of exposed granite rubble. Two storeys. All windows are 20th century. There was formerly a cross-passage but the partition with former shippon has gone. The house is reputed to have deeds back to the 17th century, now in possession of the former owner. The shippon was used for housing calves as recently as the early 1960s.

Ordnance Survey, 2018, MasterMap 2018 (Cartographic). SDV360652.

'Hatchwell Hall' is depicted on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

WIDECOMBE-IN- SX 77 NW THE-MOOR 2/171 Hatchwell Farmhouse -- II
House, formerly a longhouse. C16 or possibly earlier, probably with wing added in late C16 or early C17; added lean-to on west side of former shippon. Roughcast solid walls, probably of stone; the north gable-wall is of exposed granite rubble. Asbestos-slated roofs, the shippon roof lower than that of the house part. On the centre of ridge of main range, at right-hand end of house part, a well-made granite chimneystack with integral thatch-weatherings and tapered top; on the gable-wall below it is a series of drip-stones, protecting the shippon roof. In the gable-wall of wing is a projecting stack with offsets, thatch-weatherings and tapered top, the whole covered with roughcast.
Plan is the usual longhouse one : hall and inner room to left, shippon (now a kitchen) to right. Front door opens into upper end of former shippon with the back of the hall stack on the left-hand side; there was formerly a cross-passage, but the partition with former shippon has gone. Shippon formerly had a separate entrance. At right-angles to the rear wall of the main range, at the junction of hall and shippon, is a further room (probably designed as a parlour) with gable-fireplace.
2 storeys; lean-to single-storeyed. Main (west) front is 2 windows wide; all windows are C20. The shippon end, clearly of a different build, is set back slightly; it has no upstairs windows this side. The former shippon door, immediately to the right of the main door, has been blocked and a window inserted.
Interior: hall fireplace has a heavy, chamfered granite lintel supported at the left-hand end by a well-cut, rounded corbel; the right-hand side has been rebuilt, probably to insert an oven which itself has now been filled in. Above the lintel, visible in the room above, is a good relieving arch, the space between it and the lintel filled with rubble masonry. The back of the fireplace towards the shippon is of granite ashlar, although it lacks the plinth and cornice often found in Dartmoor houses. The fireplace is of remarkable quality for a longhouse, especially one as small as this; corbelled fireplaces are extremely rare in Devon farmhouses of any kind. Upper-floor beam of hall is chamfered with step-stops. Next to the stack, at the junction with the wing, is an open, winding stone staircase built up against the stone wall with the shippon; the wall protrudes at an awkward angle into the shippon, as if it were a later insertion. At the upper end of the hall a stone wall (rising only the height of the ground storey) divides off the narrow inner room. Towards the hall this wall contains a rectangular recess halfway up, and there is a similar feature in the gable-wall of the inner room. The wing room has a chamfered upper-floor beam with worn bar-stops. The gable-fireplace has granite jambs and lightly-chamfered granite lintel. To right of it is a recess like those in the hall and inner room.
Roof-spaces not inspected, but trusses have plain, old feet rising from the wall-tops.
The house is reputed to have deeds back to C17, now in possession of the former owner at Dockwell Farm, Widecombe. The shippon was used for housing calves as recently as the early 1960s.
Sources: information from the present owners, and from Mr and Mrs Brown of Dunstone Manor, who lived at Hatchwell while it was still a working farm.
Listing NGR: SX7024177476

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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