Dartmoor National Park Authority

8 February 2006

Dartmoor Medieval Longhouse opens its doors

Don’t miss two opportunities to visit Dartmoor National Park Authority's Grade I listed medieval longhouse at Higher Uppacott, near Poundsgate.  Higher Uppacott opens its doors to the public on 19 February and 19 March 2006, for guided visits, which take place at 2pm on both days.  Because of its location and the nature of its surroundings, Higher Uppacott is not routinely open to the public - so booking is essential to secure a place (please contact the High Moorland Visitor Centre, Princetown on (01822) 890414).  The visits will last approximately two hours and cost £3.50 per person.

Longhouses are very rare and are considered to have international importance. Higher Uppacott is one of only a handful of longhouses where the 14th century shippon (cattle accommodation) remains unaltered, and where the cobbled floor and hayloft beams can still be seen.  In the roof space, over the part of the house occupied by people, evidence that the building was once single-storied can be seen in the timbers and thatch blackened by the smoke rising from an open hearth.

Before you join one of these fascinating guided visits, why not get a taste of what Higher Uppacott has to offer by visiting www.virtuallydartmoor.org.uk (external link, opens new window) the new web site offering interactive visits to various sites of special interest within the National Park.  

Explore Higher Uppacott through a multi-media virtual tour, combining 360 degree panoramic photographs, the spoken word and archive photographs.

Dartmoor National Park Authority's Guided Walks Programme can be viewed on the Authority's website (www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk) and is included in the Dartmoor Visitor, information newspaper.  For a copy of the Dartmoor Visitor telephone the Authority's Information Hotline (01822) 890414.

Ends

For Further Information

Claire Partridge, Information Officer (Activities)

Becky Newell, Oral History Project Officer

Mike Nendick, Communications Officer, Dartmoor National Park Authority

Tel: (01626) 832093

Agendas for full Dartmoor National Park Authority meetings and Dartmoor National Park Authority planning meetings are available on the Authority's website .

You can receive an e-mail notification each time a News Release is issued by the Dartmoor National Park Authority .

Subscribe to DNPA News

News Releases from all UK National Parks (external link, opens new window)

Notes for Editors

Longhouses are long low rectangular structures built into a hillslope and effectively divided into two halves by opposing doors in the long walls which were linked by a passage.  On the higher side of this passage rooms were occupied by people; on the lower side was a byre, or shippon, where cattle were housed during the winter.

Higher Uppacott is thought to have been first constructed during the 14th century. By the middle of the 17th century a fireplace had been inserted into the main living room, floors had been added to create bedroom space above and a parlour wing had been added to the higher end of the building.  Later still, a stone-built farm building was added to the wing.

Sometime during the latter part of the 19th century, Higher Uppacott seems to have been divided into two halves – the main house and the wing. In the 1970s the farm-building attached to the 17th century wing was converted to domestic use and that part of the property was named Uppacott.  When Uppacott came on the market early in 2001, the National Park Authority made a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant towards both its purchase and for enhancing the interpretation facilities there.

The idea for Virtually Dartmoor developed from the Dartmoor National Park Authority's "Moor Memories" oral history project, which has been recording the memories of Dartmoor people since the autumn of 2001 and has identified strong links between people and places on Dartmoor.

Together with recorded memories that describe how places were in the past, the project also collected archive photographs, which illustrate many of the recollections - it was found that these two sources together created a powerful means of bringing a place to life.

In a partnership between the Dartmoor National Park Authority and the Dartmoor Trust Virtually Dartmoor was developed with initial funding from English Heritage (external link, opens new window) and the  Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund.

National Parks cover 10% of the land area of England, Wales and Scotland.  They are of special value to the whole nation because of their great beauty, their wildlife and cultural interests and the opportunities they offer for quiet enjoyment.  However, they are not nationally owned - the land is in the hands of many landowners or occupiers including farmers.  Over 33,400 people live inside the Dartmoor National Park and many millions of visits are made to it each year.

Return to General Interest News Releases

This page last updated 8 February 2006

© Copyright Dartmoor National Park Authority

Send comments, enquiries, etc. to communications@dartmoor-npa.gov.uk

Page updated 7 February 2006