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Summary

The remains of the 19th century Brown's House are visible as a ruined building and enclosures.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Brown's House. Remains of a 19th century stone house and bank and ditched enclosure 700 metres north-west of Lower White Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NW88
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442757
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/102

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Built, Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• FARMHOUSE (Built, Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 02/07/1964, F64 6399, F64/58/6399 (Aerial Photograph). SDV244309.

Baring Gould, S., 1900, A Book of Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV277387.

Phillpotts, E., 1910, The Thief of Virtue (Monograph). SDV267843.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 117-118 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Day, K. F., 1946, The Dartmoor Scene: A Series of Camera Studies Between Two Bridges and Postbridge, 17 (Monograph). SDV351346.

Haynes, R. G., 1966-1969, Ruined Sites on Dartmoor, No. 12 (Un-published). SDV150434.

(03/08/1968) A ruined stone house with bank and ditch enclosure marked on OS 6" map. Probably a two room house with fireplace of which only the lintel remains. The enclosures are early XIX century.

National Monument Record, 1969, SX6179, 2/69-79 (Aerial Photograph). SDV267882.

Gill, C. (ed.), 1970, Dartmoor: a New Study, 104 (Monograph). SDV161800.

Le Messuerier, B., 1975, Field visit, plan (Worksheet). SDV267841.

(02/07/1975) Well-founded house and enclosure of at least two rooms. From the amount of stone, it may have run to two storeys. Fireplace on west side. Overmantel. Walls regularly built where visible beneath fallen stone.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX67NW88 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV267847.

(02/10/1978) At SX 61457985 are two enclosures abutting each other. The eastern enclosure is D-shaped and measures 44.0m north to south by 38.5m east to west and consists of a bank 0.6m high and 4.5m wide, with an outer ditch, on three sides; the north side being a modern wall.
Against the inner face of this wall are the remains of a building measuring 8.7m x 6.7m with walling 1.0m high. The western enclosure measures approximately 70.0m x 70.0m and consists of a similar- sized bank and ditch, but here the ditch is on the outside on the west and north on the inside on the east (the common side to the two enclosures) and non-existent on the south. The building and enclosures are post Medieval but their purpose is obscure unless they were in seasonal use in association with stock or sheep raising.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Le Messurier, B., 1978-1979, Post-Prehistoric Structures in Central North Dartmoor: A Field Survey, Manuscript (Un-published). SDV269282.

SX 61507990. Brown's House. Well known by this name. Baring-Gould said that in 1900 there were those who recalled when the chimney fell and others who had heard of both the building, the occupying and destruction of Brown's House. Crossing says that the work of enclosing the land around it was never completed and the house was allowed to fall into decay.

Le Messurier, B., 1979, Post-Prehistoric Structures of Central North Dartmoor. A Field Survey, 68 (Article in Serial). SDV269283.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 923 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Brown's House itself is not very clearly visible within the enclosure but the two enclosures with outside ditch themselves are clear on NMR 1969 aerial photograph. A small area of ridge and furrow appears in the north-west corner of the larger enclosure.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, S. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(07/09/1994) Centred SX 61487985. Brown's House (Ordnance Survey) or Browne's House (Hemery, 1983).
The building is as described be Le Messurier (SMR). The larger enclosure, immediately W of the building contains N to S oriented cultivation ridges measuring 2.4m wide and a maximum of 0.15m high. A leat (SX 67 NW 242) formerly supplied the lower, S, end of this field.
Brown's House appears to be the farmhouse belonging to the uncompleted Wildbanks Newtake (SX 67 NW 245) and is likely to date from the early years of the 19th century.

Horsham, R., 1998, Early industry below Brown's House?, 7-12 (Article in Serial). SDV267888.

Survey of brown's house farm which was occupied from 1810-1830 showing the four home fields and two leats coming from the West Dart river. The U-shaped field to the south of the farmhouse may originally have been a tinworking reservoir.

Horsham, R., 1998, The beguiling Brown's House Landscape, 5-8 (Article in Serial). SDV267887.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

Brown's House is depicted on the modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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