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The Dartmoor longhouse generally consists of a long, single-storey granite structure, with a central entrance. There 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. There were two main rooms on the ground floor - one to the left of the central passageway and the other to the right. One of these was occupied by human inhabitants (usually at the higher end of the building), and the other by their animals - especially during the cold winter months. The animal quarters were called the ‘shippen’ - a word still used by many locals to describe a farm building used for livestock. The central 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 (separating the Chaff from the Grain ). 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 ). The Dartmoor Longhouse Poster (pdf) |
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