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Summary

A medieval hall house in origin with 17th and 18th century alterations and additions. The house was modernised in the 20th century but still retains a number of period features. Attached to the farmhouse is a

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1165076: FOXHOLE FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX49NW/27
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Built, Early Medieval to XVIII - 1066 AD to 1800 AD (Between))
• ANIMAL HOUSE (Built, XVIII to XIX - 1701 AD to 1900 AD (Between))
• PIGSTY (Built, XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV20246.

Doe/hhr:halwill/(21/1/1986)48.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV20247.

Exeter archaeology/archaeological assessment of a proposed wind cluster at high beckett farm, ashwater/(april 2002)90/ea report 02.23.

Department of Environment, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV331194.

Foxhole farmhouse. Farmhouse and shippon adjoining with loft over. Probably medieval, origins with c16 and c17 alterations. Cob on stone rubble footings, plastered to the front, asbestos slate roof gabled at ends of house, bitumen-painted slate roof to shippon, hipped at left end. Stone stacks. A probable jetty suggests that the original plan was an open hall house, but the extant building is largely c16 and c17. Two storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window front. A c19 gabled porch canopy carried on timber brackets. The interior of the house is virtually unaltered since the c19. The rear of the passage has been converted to a store room and the rear doorway is blocked by a small c20 bathroom under a lean-to roof. A fine circa 1700 open well stair with turned balusters. Apple loft over the passage. Some late c16/early c17 features exist. See doe list for full details (doe).

Child, P., 1998, Foxhole Farm, Halwill (Correspondence). SDV346908.

A most remarkable building in its own right and made more remarkable by the survival of the combined bake-house and ash-house immediately behind it.
The farmhouse is clearly of a "longhouse" type rather than the ubiquitous Devon "hall house". Evidence for a doorway through from the cross-passage to the shippon end is not clear, and it might be argued that the shippon is a relatively recent alteration replacing a domestic lower end, but the wall in question has clearly gone through much alteration and, if explored archaeologically, I have little doubt that propoer evidence for a doorway would be forthcoming. The shippon also appears to have a central, axial drain which is a standard feature in longhouses.
What is special about Foxhole is that it has remained a building in the longhouse tradtition with its shippon in full agricultural use as an animal house until the present day. The presence of the separate bake-house and ash-house arrangement again gives cridibility to the longhouse interpretaion, as one might otherwise have expected the kitchen junction to have been moved into the lower end, the common development in hallhouses

Adams, A., 1998, Untitled Source (Correspondence). SDV346909.

A through-passage house with the remains of the head beam for a plank and muntin screen on the hall side (which the Lister failed to notice in the far end of the passage,used as a coal hole), but otherwise updated in the late 17th century (1680-1700?), and with a complete staircase and landing all ballustraded, with wide oak boards on treads, landings and in bedrooms.

Morris, B. + Wapshott, E., 2018, Foxhole Farm, Halwill, Beaworthy: Devon Desk-Based Assessment and Historic Building Recording (Report - Survey). SDV361289.

A stone and cob farmhouse on and L-shaped plan under a slate roof. It has a medieval core comprising a cross passage and open hall with a room over the passage which extends via a jetty into the hall. A crosswing was added in the early 17th century and the hall was floored over to create a first floor bedroom. A lateral stack was added for a fireplace and a detached bakehouse was also built. The crosswing was incorporated into the house in the 18th century with the addition of a heated parlour and another first floor room. A pump room was added to the rear. It also appears that the staircase was remodelled and the roof replaced at about this time. An adjoining shippon was added in the late 18th/early 19th century, against which a pigsty was built in the 19th century. The house was modernised in the 20th century but retains a number of period features.
Attached to the south gable of the farmhouse is a later 18th/early 19th century two storey shippon which may have been built on the footprint of former service rooms. Built of stone and cob under a slate roof. Much of the floor is cobbled. A lean-to rubble stone 19th century pigsty abuts the end of the shippon.
The significance of the house is threefold: the survival of period features, the clear evidence for historical phasing and its group value with the bakehouse and threshing barn, forming part of a traditional farmstead.
See report for full details.

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

Foxhole Farm marked.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England, 1165076 (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

Foxhole Farmhouse. Farmhouse and adjoining shippon with loft over. Probably medieval origins with C16 and C17 alterations. Cob on stone rubble footings, plastered to the front, asbestos slate roof gabled at ends of house, bitumen-painted slate roof to shippon, hipped at left end. Stone stack with tall shaft on front heating hall, stone stack at right end heating inner room. A probable jetty suggest that the original plan was an open hall house, but the extant building is largely C16 and C17. The late C16/early C17 plan was 3 room and through passage with a shippon at the lower end and a hall stack on the front, the inner room may have been unheated. A remodelling of the late C17 enlarged the inner room and added a rear right crosswing, containing a stair, the eaves of the main range may have been raised at the same time. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2-window front, the cross passage to the left with a C19 gabled porch canopy carried on timber brackets, the hall stack with a projecting bread oven to the right of the door and regular fenestration of 3-light C19 casements, 3 panes per light. The shippon adjoining at the left has 2 entrances under timber lintels and a loft doorway. Interior The interior of the house is virtually unaltered since the C19. The rear of the passage has been converted to a store room and the rear doorway is blocked by a small C20 bathroom under a lean-to roof. The passage walls are solid to the lower end, partition to the hall, which has a good circa late C16/early C17 granite fireplace with 1 hollow-chamfered granite jamb, 1 hollow-chamfered stone rubble jamb and a hollow-chamfered granite lintel. 2 chamfered ceiling beams have ogee stops and the ceiling of the cross passage appears to have been jettied into the hall. 2 keeping places and a circa early C19 hall bench survive. A fine circa 1700 open well stair with turned balusters in the crosswing with a first floor landing leading into 2 bedrooms and an apple loft over the passage. The pegged tie beam roof trusses are probably late C17 and contemporary with the extension of the house. An ingenious hinged section of the rear door of the hall was cut to allow cider barrels to be brought into the house. Foxhole farmhouse is said to have been the home of the Soby family, the present occupiers, for over 3 centuries and has been little altered since the late C17.
Date first listed: 21st January 1986

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7550 - Desk-based Assessment and Historic Building Recorded at Foxhole Farm, Halwill

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