Higher Uppacott Dartmoor Long House, Devon

The Dartmoor longhouse is a type of medieval farmhouse once common in the area. Built on a slope, they housed people and animals in the same building. The people lived in the upper end, above a cross passage, and the cows were tethered in stalls in the lower end, or shippon, with their heads to the wall, and their other end near a central gully which discharged out of the lower end of the building. Once there were hundreds of these longhouses, but while some survive as cottages or farm buildings, almost none still have an unconverted shippon.
This one was purchased by the Dartmoor National Park Authority because of its original state. The living quarters have a large fireplace, old-fashioned rooms and an upstairs where original thatch still blackened by a medieval central fireplace can be seen. Below the cross-passage, the shippon still has animal pens and central drain.
The longhouse is not regularly opened to the public, partly because of that problem that afflicts ancient settlements that collide with the 21th century, i.e. “nowhere to park”. I saw it on a Heritage Open Day, when we had to rendezvous at a moorland car park half a mile away and be ferried to the site. The visit was most interesting, and I recommend that you check out visit opportunities and make the effort to see it. There is also an online virtual tour.