Coombe House and attached terrace wall, steps, ha-ha, north wall, gate and pond of sunken garden

Coombe House and attached terrace wall, steps, ha-ha, north wall, gate and pond of sunken garden

Coombe House is a timber-framed house whose core dates from the late 15th century. Around 1616 an L-shaped parlour wing was added. The house was extensively restored and enlarged around 1919 in an Arts and Crafts style by the architect Granville Edward Stewart Streatfeild (1869-1947) for Theophilus Maxwell Davies. A later 20th-century conservatory and orangery on the east side are not of special architectural interest.

The 15th-century and 17th-century ranges are timber-framed with plastered infill. The early 20th-century additions are partly timber-framed, partly brick in English bond, and partly tile-hung, with some weather-boarded gables. The roof is entirely of Horsham stone slabs with tall moulded brick chimneystacks. The windows have metal casements with leaded lights and decorative catches.

The original late 15th-century part was rectangular in plan, running north to south, probably with an open hall. In the early 17th century the open hall was floored over and a parlour wing of four bays was added at the south end running eastwards, converting the plan to an L-shape. Around 1919 the plan was greatly extended. The 15th-century part became an outer and inner hall with gallery over, and the floors were removed from most of the 17th-century wing to provide a full-height Great Hall with a sitting room on the ground floor and bedroom above. An extension to the east of the original part of the property included the principal well staircase, a study and billiard room on the ground floor (later dining room and kitchen), and additional bedrooms and dressing rooms on the first floor. An attic storey contained some servants' bedrooms. A further extension to the west provided a dining room (later library), additional bedrooms, a day and night nursery, and service rooms. In the early 1960s the day and night nursery and service end of the house were detached from Coombe House and given a separate address, Little Coombe, with the loss of some fabric adjoining the two parts. As of 2016, Coombe House comprises on the ground floor an entrance hall leading into the Great Hall, a billiard room/library, a reception hall with main staircase, sitting room and dining room, kitchen, and a later 20th-century conservatory and orangery. The first floor has a master bedroom and dressing room to the west, three other bedrooms, bathrooms, and service stairs leading to two bedrooms in the attic.

The north or entrance front is asymmetrical and of two storeys and seven bays. The off-centre projecting gable has carved barge-boards and pendant at the apex with the date 1616, panelled timber-framing with plastered infill, and a chamfered bressumer. The first floor has two two-light casement windows. The ground floor is of brick in English bond and has two two-light casements and a wide wooden double door. The set-back section to the west has a tile-hung upper floor and the ground floor is of brick in English bond. There is a six-light casement on each floor. To the east of the central gable the first floor is timber-framed with plastered infill over a brick ground floor in English bond with a six-light first-floor staircase window. The western end terminates in a projecting brick gable with a partly projecting end chimneystack. Attached at the west end is a red brick wall including a round-headed arch with cast-iron pedestrian gate which forms the north boundary to the formal or sunken garden, which contains a rectangular pond with curved ends.

The east end has a hipped dormer and a projecting hip at the south end. It has casement windows on the first floor but is mainly obscured by a later 20th-century conservatory and orangery on the ground floor.

The south or garden front is asymmetrical and of seven bays, including three projecting gables. The western gable is weather-boarded with carved barge-boards and pendants and has a single-light casement. The projecting timber-framed first floor has plastered infill and a five-light oriel window. The brick ground floor in English bond also has a five-light casement window. The set-back adjoining section is of similar materials but has close-studding to the upper floor, two two-light casements on the first floor, and a four-light casement on the ground floor. The central gable has carved barge-boards and pendants, small panel framing, and a canted three-tier five-light window to the Great Hall. The next section to the east is tile-hung to the upper floor, with occasional courses of curved tiles, and has a small central gable with a casement window and an entrance with a studded wooden door. The eastern end projecting gable is weather-boarded with carved barge-boards and moulded pendants over a projecting timber-framed first floor with plastered infill and a five-light casement window. The brick ground floor has a canted seven-light mullioned and transomed window.

The west end, separated from the around 1919 service end of the house in the early 1960s, has a brick ground floor and is tile-hung above with some curved tiles.

The entrance hall has early 20th-century double doors with ornamental hinges. The corner window incorporates two reused oak beams and the floor has ripple stone flagstones.

The north end of the Great Hall, originally the late 15th-century open hall bay, has a massive 17th-century oak bressumer to the fireplace with rush-light marks and an around 1919 tapestry with floral motifs attached at its base. The chamfered ends and the Flemish bond and herringbone brickwork are early 20th century. On each side are around 1919 ornamental metal light fittings. The ceiling joists are chamfered.

The Great Hall extends over two floors and is of three bays with jowled posts. The upper part of the frame is exposed with square panels. The west wall has ogee arches. The roof has staggered purlins with a ridge-piece. The three queen struts and collars appear to be of early 20th-century date. The open fireplace at the east end appears to have been assembled around 1919 using some old materials. The window seat has oak balusters underneath and there is a section of oak panelling on the south side of the fireplace. The windows have lion motifs to the catches.

The billiard room/library to the west has wide oak double doors with ornamental hinges and decorative door handles with crown emblems. The early 20th-century stone fireplace has a four-centred arch with stops and there are early 20th-century chamfered ceiling beams.

The main staircase is an around 1919 oak well staircase with turned balusters and poppy head finials to the newel posts.

The sitting room to the east of the Great Hall has a 17th-century four-centred arched stone fireplace with stops flanked by oak doors. The ceiling has a 17th-century chamfered spine beam with lambs tongue stops and plain floor joists which were originally plastered over.

The adjoining dining room (originally a billiard room) has a large baronial type stone fireplace flanked by metal torcheres within a carved oak framed alcove. The fireplace has an ornamental cast-iron fire-back of 1919 with similar decoration to the ceiling beams, which are of moulded plaster depicting squirrels, birds, flowers and grapes.

The kitchen (originally a study) has some exposed plain beams and an enunciator.

The first-floor corridor in the 15th-century wing contains a similar fireplace to the one directly below it but with the addition of two small wooden cupboards. The tie beam and posts appear to be original but the crown-post roof appears early 20th century. The first-floor 17th-century formerly external north wall of the parlour wing is exposed along the corridor and the eastern end section is separately framed from the rest.

The bedroom to the east of the Great Hall, which adjoins the corridor, has the 17th-century wall frame of small panels visible on three sides of the room, a chamfered spine beam, plain floor joists (originally plastered), and two cupboards either side of the fireplace with ledged plank doors and early 20th-century cock's-head hinges.

There is a separate attic staircase with moulded balusters and square moulded newel posts. The south-east bedroom has a chamfered spine beam. The attic roof has been lined and the roof structure was not visible.

The grounds, which were also laid out around 1919, possibly also by Streatfeild, include a formal or sunken garden attached by a brick wall and gate to the east end of the house, containing an ornamental pond with a rectangular outline and curved ends. Attached to the south front of the house is a terrace of local stone, including ripple stone, which leads opposite the central gable to a southern spur with a flight of five semi-circular stone steps and an attached dry stone ha-ha.