West Combe Farm House

Details

STOKE FLEMING SX84NW West Combe Farm House 5/138 26.1.67 GV II

Farmhouse. Dated 1827, with initials N.B. (said to be Nicholas Browse). Local slate rubble with rendered left hand (west) wall. Hipped scantle slate roof with red clay ridge tiles. Large central lateral stack at the front with chamfered corners and battlements corbelled out at the top of the shaft. There is another stack on the left hand side of the house with a rendered shaft. Plan: An interesting early C19 derivative of the traditional hall and passage plan but with a symmetrical facade. The house, facing south, has a central 'hall ' with a front lateral stack flanked by the 'lower' service end on the left and 'higher' end on the right. The left hand service end has a scullery and back staircase at the rear and a kitchen which projects in a canted bay. Behind the parlour a small room now used as a dairy, to the left of which is the stairhall with a passage to a doorway at the front between the parlour and central hall. To give symmetry to the front of the house this principal entrance on the right of centre is balanced by a doorway to the left of centre directly into the 'hall'. At the back there are doorways into the scullery and small cellars under the stairs. The ground level of the farm yard at the back is lower than the walled garden at the front. Exterior: 2 storeys. 1:2:1 window south front, symmetrical but for the left hand doorway being blocked. To the left and right the end bays project with canted corners. All original 16-pane sashes in cambered arch opening with slate cills, except for the first floor right hand window which has a C20 4-pane sash in the original opening. Doorway to right of centre has a cambered stone arch and original cambered-head 6-panel door with fielded and flush panels. The doorway to left of centre is now a window with a 2- light casement with glazing bars. On the inner returns of the projecting end bays is the date 1827 recessed into the masonry and similarly inscribed initials N.B. at the centre under the large lateral stack. The left hand (west) return is blind except for a window on each floor at the rear (left). The right hand (East) return has 2 C19 round-headed case- ments on the first floor with intersecting glazing bars. The rear (north) elevation is asymmetrical and some of the windows have been blocked. A large C19 18-pane stair sash to the left of centre and a smaller 16-pane sash to its right. The other stair window to the right has been blocked and a small early C19 fixed-light window with leaded panes inserted. On the ground floor a C19 3-light casement to the right of centre and a 2- light window to the right with perforated zinc ventilator and an early C19 flush panel door to the right. There are 2 other doorways to the left and right of centre but both have been blocked; they originally gave access to the cellars under the stairs; the cellar to the right has a small square window with a lattice grille. Interior is complete and unaltered and the plan is intact. The entrance hall at the right hand (east) end has an open-well staircase at the back with a scrolled open string, stick balusters and a moulded mahogany hand rail ramped up to column newels. The entrance hall also has its original early C19 6-panel doors in reeded doorframes. The front parlour to the left has a large alcove with a mounded architrave and panelled cupboard doors and window shutters but its chimneypiece is C20. The small room behind (rear right) is now the dairy but it has a fireplace; there are large shelves on the walls on shaped brackets, hooks on the ceiling, a circa early C19 corner cupboard and a stone-flagged floor. The 'hall' has a C20 chimneypiece. The front left hand room (kitchen) has a partly blocked fireplace with a large chamfered timber lintel and shaped wooden coat-hooks below a row of small cupboards. The scullery behind also has wooden coat-hooks. The small dog- leg back staircase has stick balusters and another row of small cupboards to the side with original drop handles. The first floor has a complete set of 6-paint doors and the two right hand rooms have C19 chimneypieces, the one at the back is reeded.

Listing NGR: SX8424948589

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

99923

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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