Windstrew, or winnowing platform, at Longstone

This photograph of Longstone was taken in 1914. Longstone Manor was built in 1633 by Walter and Barbara Efford. A windstrew is a granite platform (16 ft sqaure and 4ft 6 " high) and was the manor threshing floor, on which the grain would be threshed. The platform is reached by steps set in the side. It became a ruin as a consequence of the building of the Burrator Reservoir. When the Corporation of Plymouth purchased the entire Burrator watershed in 1916, active farming in the area was banned on grounds of hygiene. Without useful employment, the moormen could not live on the moor, so they left their homes to find employment elsewhere.