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Summary

This building may have been a Dartmoor longhouse and was certainly the original farmhouse at Batworthy. Title deeds exist from 1739 but it is possible it is much earlier in date. In the late 19th century this structure was converted for agricultural use as a cider house. Sometimes known as 'Middle Batworthy' this is one of the three properties in the hamlet all named Batworthy in the late 18th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1326015: CIDER HOUSE APPROXIMATELY 24 METRES NORTH-EAST OF BATWORTHY FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX78NW/195/2
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 94531

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (XVI to XIX - 1600 AD to 1889 AD (Between))
• CIDER MILL (XIX to XXI - 1880 AD to 2009 AD)

Full description

Woods, S. H., 1988, Dartmoor Stone, 174-5 photograph of press (Monograph). SDV346790.

At Batworthy Farm, the apple pulp was placed between layers of straw under the press and squeezed. About 2 tons of apples could be pressed free of juice at any one time.

Thorp, J. + Cox, J., 1994, Batworthy Farm, Chagford, 8-26 (Report - Survey). SDV347507.

The first of the three properties known as Batworthy in the hamlet is possibly an old longhouse and was the original farmhouse at the site. Title deeds exist for the property from 1739. It was sometimes known as ‘Middle Batworthy’ and was owned with the other two properties by the Collins family from 1830-approximately 1880. In the 1850s James Collins and his wife who were retired from milling lived in the cider house while their sons took care of the farming and milling at the holding. By the 1880s the old longhouse appears to have gone out of domestic use and become the cider house.
If this building was originally a typical Dartmoor longhouse it has had the ‘lower-end’ service room or shippon converted in the late 17th / early 18th century to a comfortable parlour with a fireplace in a gable-end stack and a bedchamber above. The masonry around the front doorway dates to at least the 16th century and possibly as early as the 14th century, but is more likely to be 15th century in date.
In the 1880s the farmhouse was abandoned and partly demolished and the lower end was converted to a cider house. The southern extension was added after the late 17th/early 18th century rebuild of the old farmhouse but according to the Tithe Map was apparently built before the house was abandoned, providing a small, lofted animal shelter.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

Cider house, former farmhouse. 17th century, rearranged and much altered probably in late 18th-early 19th century when converted to agricultural use. The earliest masonry of coursed granite ashlar but most has been replaced with granite stone rubble and there is some cob on the wall tops; disused granite stacks; corrugated iron roof (formerly thatch).
Plan and development: the building faces east. It contains a cider house with apple store above and a small byre with hayloft over at the left (southern) end. The byre is an addition. The cider house has been made in the remains of the old house. It seems that this was a 3-room-and-through-passage plan house but now only the service end room, the passage and a small part of the hall now survive and all original partitions have been removed. The service end room part has a disused former end stack, now backing onto the added byre and there is the former axial hall stack backing onto the site of the through passage facing the later right (northern) end wall. There is less than 1.0 meter between this fireplace and the end wall. The apple loft floor is not the original. There was originally a winder stair rising alongside the service end fireplace but the present stair rises alongside the former hall stack.
Exterior: on the front the doorway near the right end is the original front passage doorway but it now contains a 19th century doorframe and door. There is a loading hatch to the apple loft a little to the left. Towards the left end is a doorway to the byre with a hayloft loading hatch directly above. The right side of these is the end corner of the original house. The roof is gable-ended to right and half-hipped to left. The rear elevation shows some original features. There is a straight butt join between the former house and byre. At the other end the masonry of the rebuilt end wall returns along this side as far as a window which is blocking the original rear passage doorway. Immediately right of this is a blocked window and then a window on each floor. Just right of these is a small stair window. The byre section has a very small doorway with a slit window to the hayloft. The windows are unglazed with internal shutters.
Interior: of the two disused fireplaces in the cider house the former hall one is the largest. It is all granite ashlar with a chamfered surround. The former service end room fireplace is granite with soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The apple loft is carried on 17th century crossbeams but it seems that these have been reused and the original ceiling raised. A-frame truss roof with pegged lap-jointed collars is late 18th-early 19th century. The cider house has a complete set of cider-making machinery and it is still used. It looks quite early too. Other details: LB UID: 94531.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5142 - Building survey at Batworthy Farmstead, Chagford

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