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Summary

Ruined remains of Warren House farmstead which was worked from at least 1809 until shortly after 1919. Huntingdon Warren was mentioned from the 15th century. The dwelling was occupied until 1956, when it was burnt down

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthworks of Huntingdon Medieval Warren including pillow mounds, vermin traps and warren house, Bronze Age hut circles, enclosures, and the Huntingdon Barrow as well as old tin workings including Huntingdon Tin Mine, Gibby Beam and Wellabrook Girt

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NE/130
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMSTEAD (XIX to XX - 1808 AD to 1961 AD (Between))

Full description

National Monuments Record, NMR SX6666, 4 (Aerial Photograph). SDV151758.

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

'Huntingdon Warren' shown on 19th century Tithe Map as two small irregular shaped buildings around the east side of a rectilinear yard with two rectangular enclosures to the south. The Apportionment for 'Huntingdon Warren' lists Field Number 1254 as 'Dwelling-house, Outhouses & Garden'.

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

'Warren House' farmstead shown on 19th century map as an irregular shaped building with a T-shaped building to the north and a small square building to the north-east. There are two small rectangular enclosures to the south and several larger enclosures to the east.

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

'Warren House' shown on early 20th century map.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV320981.

Other details: part 4, 48 (1909).

Gover, J. E. B. + Mawer, A. + Stenton, F. M., 1931, The Place-Names of Devon: Part One, 195 (Monograph). SDV1312.

Huntingdon Warren was mentioned as 'Huntyndon' in 1481 and 'Huntingdon' in 1598.

Royal Air Force, 1946, CPE/UK 1890, 4272 (Aerial Photograph). SDV140289.

Haynes, R. G., 1970, Vermin Traps and Rabbit Warrens on Dartmoor, 163 (Article in Serial). SDV166302.

Huntingdon Warren House. Demolished in recent years, though its ruins suggest a building of some pretension. May overlie the ruins of an earlier house mentioned by Crossing.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 309-313 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Ruined remains of Huntingdon Warren House. Hemery believes that an earlier longhouse may predate this structure, the material being reused for the later building, which was a two-storey house, which was leased along with the warren lands for a period of 99 years, starting in 1809 by Thomas Michelmore. The warren was worked by his son William and grandson William Henry and then by Jan Waye, who married William Henry’s daughter Caroline Ann until just after the First World War. The Ways moved out of Huntingdon to retire and shortly afterwards, in 1942 Frederick William Symes moved in, living at the rather dilapidated property until 1956, when in his eighties he moved to Buckfastleigh. The warren-house was burnt down that same year by naval cadets who were sheltering at the property and, according to Hemery, built an overly large fire in the upstairs room. Demolition of the remains was undertaken in 1961, using explosives.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Interpretation). SDV319854.

Recorded.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East (Monograph). SDV337765.

Warren-house depicted on Butler's map.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

Centred at SX665669. The remains of a large 19th century enclosed warren comprising 116 pillow mounds, a destroyed Warrener's House and a complex series of drainage channels lies on the east, south and west flanks of Huntingdon Warren some 8.0 kilometres west of Buckfastleigh. The chronology of the site and its tenants is discussed at length by Hemery (1983). Occupation lasted until 1956 though warrening was abandoned before or during the last war. The main warren building is represented by a large rubble mound displaying few structural details, having been demolished by explosives in 1961. Insubstantial traces of outbuildings also exist in the immediate area though their precise form and function is unclear. Other details: A detailed report and large scale survey are deposited in the archive.

White, P., 2013, Previously Unsurveyed Dartmoor Historic Farmsteads, Huntingdon Warren (Un-published). SDV352501.

Huntingdon Warren is the site of a lost farmstead shown on the 19th century Tithe Map.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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