Dartmoor longhouse

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The Dartmoor longhouse is a type of traditional home, found on the high ground of Dartmoor, in the south west of the United Kingdom. The earliest are thought to have been built in the 13th century, and they continued to be constructed throughout the mediaeval period, using local granite.^[1] Many longhouses are still inhabited today (although obviously adapted over the centuries), while others have been converted into farm buildings.

Sketch of a 17th century Dartmoor longhouse.

The Dartmoor longhouse consists of a long, single-storey granite structure, with a central 'cross-passage' dividing it into two rooms, one to the left of the cross-passage and the other to the right. The one at the higher end of the building was occupied by the human inhabitants; their animals were kept in the other, especially during the cold winter months. The animal quarters were called the 'shippon' or 'shippen'; a word still used by many locals to describe a farm building used for livestock.

Early longhouses would have had no chimney - the smoke from a central fire simply filtered through the thatched roof. Windows were very small or non-existent, so the interior would have been dark. The cross-passage had a door at either end, and with both of these open a breeze was often created which made it an ideal location for winnowing.

This simple floorplan is clearly visible at the abandoned mediaeval village at Hound Tor, which was inhabited from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Excavations during the 1960s revealed four longhouses, many featuring a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns.

In later centuries, the longhouses were adapted and expanded, often with the addition of an upper floor and a granite porch to protect against the elements. Substantial fireplaces and chimneys were also added, and can be seen at many of the surviving Dartmoor longhouses today (see Ancient Tenements).

Higher Uppacott, one of the few remaining longhouses to retain its original unaltered shippon, is a Grade I listed building, and is now owned by the Dartmoor National Park Authority.^[2]