Combe Royal

Combe Royal is a large, detached Jacobean Revival villa dating to circa 1855. It is constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs. The main range has a compact square plan with a symmetrical east-facing entrance front, high shaped gables with counter-curves, and extends over two storeys, an attic, and a basement. A lower, simpler, double-depth two-storey service range is attached to the south.

The windows are primarily casements, with horizontal bars to the main front, but generally plain elsewhere. They feature recessed ovolo moulded mullions and transoms. The entrance front has small two-light windows in the gables, a two-light with transom at first floor, and above a three-light with transom, all beneath a porch with a stepped gable over a moulded doorway to a flat, four-centred head. Small railed basement areas flank the entrance, with deep three-light windows below. Moulded strings are present above ground and first floors, topped by a coped parapet and face gables. A deep ashlar stack with five octagonal shafts is situated to the left. The right return features a gable above a canted two-storey bay with a one:three:one light arrangement with transom at each level; to the left is a two-light window above a three-light window, both with transoms. A stack with three octagonal shafts is located to the left of the canted bay. The rear elevation is two-gabled, echoing the bay and fenestration of the front, but incorporates an early hipped glazed conservatory with a splayed outer end set into an ashlar plinth wall. A two and a three-shaft stack is present on this rear front. Decorative square finials are atop each gable. The service range has a plain eaves roof with coped outer gable-ends. To the left of the entrance front, it presents three and two-light casements above a lean-to porch and a three-light window, with a double octagonal stack to the left. The rear facade of the service range has three two-light windows above two lights with transoms, and a ridge stack with four octagonal shafts. Gable ends are punctuated by small quatrefoil lights above one and two-light casements, with a lean-to conservatory also present. Externally, the building remains largely complete, although some casement windows have lost their bars.

The interior has not been inspected. A foundation stone (now plastered over) was originally believed to be dated 1815, but this was likely a misreading of 1855. This date corresponds with a submitted Jacobean Revival design to the Bathwick Estate Office. The original house, named Combe Royal, dated from 1814 and was part of the initial development of Bathwick Hill. The present building represents a move toward a more picturesque and historicist style common for villas on the edge of town. It shares stylistic similarities with J. Elkington Gill’s Bluecoat School in Saw Close, built between 1859 and 1860.