Great Combe

Details

STOKE FLEMING SX84NW Great Combe 5/128 26.1.67 II

House, formerly a farmhouse. Circa C17, possibly with earlier origins, partly rebuilt in C18, extended in C18 or C19 and extended again in 1987. Local slate rubble with dressed slate quoins. Asbestos slate roof with gabled ends. The left hand (north) wing with a hipped roof is being reroofed at the time of this survey (1987). Right hand gable end stack with short C19 brick shaft and projecting rear lateral stack with rebuilt shaft. Plan: The existing house has 2-room and through passage plan and faces west, the large hall to the left is heated from a lateral stack at the back, the lower end to the right (south) has a cellar below; the passage has a 2- storey porch at the front and at the higher left end projecting at the back there is an outbuilding cross-wing which might have been part of the house originally but which has a higher floor level. There is an outshut behind the lower end and a large late C20 addition behind the hall in the angle with the outbuilding cross-wing. This house is largely the result of an early C17 remodelling and the large hall might be on the site of an earlier open hall the floor of which would have been lowered when the hall was putatively ceiled in the early C17. The outbuilding, probably a higher cross-wing, has a floor level of about .75 metre higher than that of the hall and the remains of what might have been a stair turret at the back. The lower end seems to have been rebuilt, probably in the C18, when a cellar was excavated below and under the passage. The house was probably refenestrated at this time. The rear outshut was probably a Cl9 addition. At the time of the survey 1987) the house was being restored and a large extension was being built behind the hall, possibly on the site of a bakehouse or detached kitchen range since the remains of a stack and hearth were found during the construction. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window west front with a gabled 2- storey porch to the right of centre. All the windows are C20 sashes with glazing bars probably replacing earlier sashes. The 2 left hand windows on both floors are in the larger circa early C17 window openings which have been reduced but the 2 ground floor windows retain their hoodmoulds and the ground floor left hand window its early C17 cyma-moulded timber lintel with bar stops. The porch has a fine champered round-arch with dressed slate voussoirs and a C20 outer door. The porch chamber window above is a C20 sash and above the gable has been rebuilt in rendered brick. The inner doorway of the porch has a fine timber door-frame with an ovolo and cyma mounding with fillets and large carved vase-shape stops with fleurons above within a strapwork frame. The early C17 door has 16 panels and moulded and studded cover-moulds and large wrought-iron hinges. The doorway has a cyma moulded timber lintel with bar stops, identical to the passage rear doorway which is now within a later outshut at the back. At the left hand end an outbuilding with a cart entrance on the ground floor and a loft opening above. Rear elevation: To the right and centre there is a large parallel range, in the course of construction (1987), of concrete blocks faced in stone rubble and with a parallel gable-ended roof. To the left at the back a single storey outshut above which there are 2 window openings. At the right hand end of the back the rear end of the outbuilding has a window slit in the former stair turret. Across the lower south end of the house there is a long outshut on the lower ground level and a round-headed window in the apex of the gable. Interior: The passage partitions have been replaced recently and the lower right hand partition moved to widen the passage. The right hand lower end room at the ground floor is featureless. The large hall to the right of the passage has a fine late C16 or early C17 moulded plaster ceiling with moulded single ribs in ogee patterns terminat- ing in floral scrolls with animal heads. Part of the plaster ceiling at the centre and some of the ovolo-moulded cornice is missing and only a section of the frieze moulding at the higher end and another section to the right of the fireplace on the rear wall survives. The fireplace overmantel is later than the ceiling and dated 1640; it displays the large Royal Arms of Charles I, flanked by a rose on one side and thistle on the other, over which there is a crown. Part of the fireplace lintel survives and has a cyma and fillet moulding with bar stops. The wide fireplace was probably reduced in width when the overmantel was installed in 1640. The chamber over the hall was formerly 2 rooms since there are 2 fire- places. The fireplace in the lateral stack at the back has dressed slate jambs and a renewed lintel. The other fireplace in the higher end wall has dressed slate jambs and a cyma moulded timber lintel with bar stops. The circa late C16 or early C17 moulded plaster overmantel above has a rather grotesque bust of Medusa in a strapwork frame flushed by scrolls with bird masks at the top and animals (lions ?) at the bottom holding sprigs of flowers. To the right and left there are figures of Adam and Eve standing behind lilies. Above the lintel there is a moulded plaster frieze of ara- besques and moulded cornices. The hall chamber ceiling has been replaced but some moulded plasterwork survives on the feet of two trusses at the front. This plasterwork is on the soffit or face of the trusses in the form of fleurons and chevron patterns. The roof has been replaced but the foot of a truss is exposed at the front and another truss over the hall-passage partition shows the structure had straight principal rafters with curved braces resting on wall plates, pre- sumably designed for a vaulted plaster ceiling. The chamber over the lower end is featureless except for a small fireplace with a brick arch in the gable end wall. The outbuilding cross-wing at the higher end has what appears to be the remains of a stair turrett in the rear right hand corner and a small moulded timber bracket high up in the partition wall with the hall The outbuilding has pegged scissor-braced trusses, probably C18 or early C19.

Listing NGR: SX8409248793

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

99913

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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