Birdcombe Court And Birdcombe Court Farmhouse

Birdcombe Court and Birdcombe Court Farmhouse is a manor or court house, probably dating from the 14th century, with significant alterations and extensions carried out from the mid to late 15th century (tower and south wing), the 17th century, and the early to mid 19th century (probably around 1834). The building is rendered with pantiled and double Roman tiled roofs, hipped to the left with a moulded cornice, and rendered stacks.

The structure follows a T-plan layout, originally comprising an open hall to the north and a solar cross-wing to the south, with later extensions added to either side. The front elevation is dominated by a highly unusual five-stage porch and stair-tower, probably dating from the mid to late 15th century, though the upper stages with their ogee-domed lead roof may be later. The tower features a two-stage buttress with offsets flanking a wide four-centred archway with double ogee moulded surround. The second and third stages contain two-light windows with hollow chamfered mullions and cusped heads, above which are two-light windows in hollow surrounds. The porch includes a tierceron vault with heraldic bosses, possibly depicting the Courtenay and Perceval families, and springs from male and female heads in 15th-century head-dresses. A further wide four-centred arch to the north is partly blocked. The front door to the cross passage is offset and features a moulded and pointed surround with a hoodmould terminating in diamond stops.

To the left of the tower stands the two-storey, single-bay end of the cross wing, with a two, three and two-light early to mid 19th-century bay window on the ground floor displaying gothick cusped pointed lights, and a four-light cross window on the first floor in ovolo moulded surrounds and mullions. To the right of the tower is an early to mid 19th-century extension of three storeys containing two three-light casement windows with wooden cusped tracery heads and underdrip moulds.

The south elevation of the cross-wing displays four buttresses with offsets and comprises three bays. To the east is a two-light window and in the centre a single-light window, both with cinquefoil heads. To the west is a 19th-century bay window with cusped lights on the ground floor and above is a two-light window with hollow moulded surround and pointed heads. Set back to the west is a 17th to 18th-century extension of rubble construction, two storeys tall with three bays containing two and three-light casement windows, one chamfered on the first floor. A central projecting 20th-century porch flanked by buttresses supports a gable. At the far left is a projecting two-storey wing, formerly a barn, with two and three-light casement windows and a central 20th-century door.

The interior features a cross passage with a gallery above. Two doorways with chamfered surrounds and four-centred heads open to the south wing. The head beam of the screen survives, moulded with an embattled upper edge. A plain chamfered rear doorway with two-centred head leads to a small room, possibly formerly containing a stairway, with a two-centred, hollow-step-ogee moulded doorway.

The hall contains a late 16th or early 17th-century inserted fireplace and a raised cruck truss with an arch-braced, cambered collar beam, from which windbraces have been removed. The tower's doorway to the first stage features an ogee-hollow moulded surround and four-centred head, with a chamfered fire surround in the first room and a newel stair. Doors on the second and third stages have stop-chamfered surrounds.

The south or cross wing was formerly two rooms, now subdivided into three, with the west room located in Birdcombe Farmhouse. A 19th-century stair occupies this space. The first-floor west room features a hollow-ogee moulded stone doorway and a fireplace with moulded surround and mantelshelf. Below, the room contains hollow-double ogee moulded beams. The roof displays four arch-braced collar beam trusses with principals featuring curved feet as raised crucks, butt purlins, two tiers of windbraces with the lower one displaying incised cusping, and an embattled wall plate.