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Summary

Black Hall: farmhouse with remains of manor house. An L-shaped two storey house, probably 16th and 17th century; refurbished in the early 19th century. Plastered walls, probably stone rubble, maybe with cob; granite stacks, all with granite ashlar chimneyshafts with moulded coping; thatch roof.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1106004: BLACKHALL MANOR FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX69SE28
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 444105
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX69SE/70/1
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 95024

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Built, XVI to XIX - 1501 AD (Between) to 1860 AD (Between))

Full description

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

"Black Hall. Remains of a Manor House" marked.

Department of Environment, 1960, Okehampton RD, 25 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV275388.

Black Hall: farmhouse with remains of manor house. An L-shaped two storey house, probably 17th century with plastered rubble walls, thatched roof and stone stacks.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1974, SX69SE28 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV246057.

(29/07/1974) (SX 65269454) Black Hall and remains of (NAT) Manor House (NR).
Blackhall Farm. As described, it has modern sash windows Not outstanding. Published 1/2500 survey correct.

Department of Environment, 1988, South Tawton, 161 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV336452.

Farmhouse, former manor house. C16 and C17, refurbished in the early C19. Plastered walls, probably stone rubble, maybe with cob; granite stacks, all with granite ashlar chimneyshafts with moulded coping; thatch roof.
L-shaped building. The main block faces SE and is built down a gentle slope. It has a 3 room and through passage plan. Early C19 stair turret. No interior inspection. Two storeys. Plan form of the main block is clearly C16 and was probably some type of open hall house. The fireplaces would have been inserted and the house progressively floored over through the late C16 and C17. Both ranges have symmetrical 3 window fronts arranged around a central doorway. Most of the joinery detail is early 19th century. Owners report some early panelling in the main block.

McCallum, D., 1993, Blackhill Manor Farm, South Zeal, South Tawton Parish (Correspondence). SDV347012.

Visited 1993 by Duncan McCallum. There are a large number of internal features which reinforce the building's historic significance. The building has seen a degree of alteration more particularly at the lower end (righthand side) on the ground floor and first floor. The plank and muntin screen between the hall and inner room is a particularly fine example, with mouldings rather than chamfers on the muntins and its detail would suggest an early 17th century date. Other decorative features such as the mouldings on the beams, the door surround to the stair turret and the fragments of plasterwork on the upstairs inner room again suggest a similar date.
The most intriguing feature of the house is the cross passage arrangement. One possible suggestion is that the granite ashlar projection on the lefthand side of the front door marks the original line of the partition between the cross passage and the main hall, and that the fireplaces on the hall side are a later insertion. The double fireplace in the main hall is particularly unusual, only one other arrangement like this is known in a domestically-scaled property (Church House, Combe Raleigh). The arches over the two fireplaces appear to be 19th century and the clay bread oven to the righthand side of the righthand fireplace would back this up. The double fireplace sugges that this part of the building must have had some small industrial use such as a bakery or processing of farm produce. On the cross passage side of the fireplace wall, the small niche could be evidence of a cream oven where the structure projected further into the cross passage than it does now. The flat arch exposed in the cross passage could possibly be the original doorway opening to the hall, although the existing opening is in the more usual postion. I cannot recall seeing a similar arch feature on the inside of the righthand fireplace. The arch does not seem to relate to the ashlar projection in the cross passage and presumably these two features would not therefore have been in use at the same time.

Historic Environment Record, 2011, HER comment (Personal Comment). SDV347013.

Although McCallum refers to a Listed 'Blackhill Manor Farm', no such place appears to exist. Black Hall Farm, approximately 1 kilometre from South Zeal, appears to be the most likely candidate.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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