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Summary

The original house is thought to date to the mid-late 17th century; having been built using some of the stone from the castle. Alterations followed in the 19th century, converting the house into its present form. Gidleigh Barton ceased to be a working farm before 1914 and farmhouse has been a private dwelling since.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68NE58
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443641
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68NE/4

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Constructed, XVII - 1638 AD (Between) to 1699 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Depicted on the Tithe Map; house appears much the same as in modern times.

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

Named as 'Castle House' on the early 20th century historic map.

Reichel, O. J., 1912, The Domesday Hundred of Wenford or Wonford, 287 (Article in Serial). SDV38842.

Medieval estate and Domesday manor of Ghiderleia. Early descents of ownership are given.

Reichel, O. J., 1912, The Hundred of South Tawton in Early Times, 344, 349, 350, 352 (Article in Serial). SDV251604.

Hughes, G. W. G., 1947, Gidleigh, 92-94, 102-3 (Article in Serial). SDV273922.

Considerable additions have been made to it. May have some parts of a manor house. Now called Castle House. Solidly built structure. Probably built before castle was built.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1974, SX68NE58 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV274508.

Gidleigh Barton in front of Gidleigh Castle.
(07/07/1974) (SX 67078841) Barton (NR). (Site of) (NAT). No further information. The site of a medieval barton is alleged at this location.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/GW, 12, 13 (Aerial Photograph). SDV253850.

Blaylock, S. R., 1993, Gidleigh Castle: A Survey of the Standing Remains, 1991-2, 1,14 (Report - Survey). SDV275396.

May date to late 17th century, although visible fabric is late 18th and 20th century. Hints of early remnants survive, including re-used granite sills of mullioned windows.

Grumley-Grennan, T. + Hardy, M., 2000, Gidleigh. A Dartmoor Village Past and Present, 29-34 (Monograph). SDV359347.

Gidleigh Castle was bought by Bartholomew Gidley in 1638 and instead to modifying or pulling down the castle, which having not been occupied regularly for the preceding centuries was in a bad state, built another house nearby, using some of the stone from the castle, where Castle House now stands. The cellars, now mostly filled in, date from his time. By the mid-18th century, the Gidleys were struggling financially and the estate changed hands. The Reverend Thomas Whipham bought it in 1819 after a long lawsuit and appears to have been responsible for converting the house that Bartholomew Gidley built into the present one.
Gidleigh Barton remained one of the principal farms on Dartmoor during the remainder of the 19th century, let out to a series of tenants but the decline in agriculture from 1870 caused increasing difficulties. It ceased to be a working farm before 1914 and became a private house, with a number of owners. In the 1980s, during landscaping of the garden, a tunnel was discovered in the compressed granite, almost six feet high and 20-30 feet long. Function could not be established, although it is not thought to be mining-related.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

Depicted on the modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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