The Yarcombe Inn

YARCOMBE YARCOMBE ST 20 NW 7/198 The Yarcombe Inn 7.12.62 GV II Public house, former coaching inn, on the site of (and maybe incorporating fragments of) the former church house. Ostensibly C18 and C19 with more than one through C20 modernisation but the exposed fabric on the back wall shows various breaks and blockings which indicate that parts date back at least to the C17. Plastered local stone and flint rubble, maybe including some cob; the masonry is exposed to rear; stone rubble and brick stacks with plastered brick chimneyshafts; thatch roof to the main inn section, slate to the coach house and stables extension. Plan: long building facing west-north-west, say west, and built down the hillslope backing onto the churchyard. The main block, the inn proper, is uphill at the left (north) end. It has a 3-room plan. The left room has a gable-end stack. There is a stair between this and the centre room which has an axial stack backing onto the right room which has a rear lateral stack. A 1-room plan rear block projects at right angles right of centre and it has a gable-end stack. This building has been so much modernised in the C20 that it is not possible to determine any historic development. On the right end and the same axis is a C19 coach house and stables which have now been brought into domestic use. The inn and former coach house/stables are 2 storeys and there are single storey outshots to rear and a C20 garage extension on the left (north) end. Exterior: irregular 3-window front of C20 casements containing rectangular panes of leaded glass and the inn section includes 2 curving bay windows with thatch roofs. The 2 doorways to the inn section contain C20 doors in traditional style. At the right end of the coach house/stables section an external flight of stone steps lead to a first floor doorway. The roof is gable-ended and steps down with the slope of the land. Where the rear wall of the inn section is exposed (the north end) various breaks and blockings can be made out, some of them defined by limestone ashlar blocks, and there is a redundant ashlar drip ledge. This is the only apparent evidence of pre C18 work. Interior is largely the result of C20 modernisations and most of the features are C19 and C20. For instance the northern most room is spanned by blocked in RSJ's. The oldest feature is the roof which may be C18; a series of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars and X-apexes. The Yarcombe Inn is a very important building in the village and forms part of a group with other listed buildings in the vicinity of the Church of St John (q.v). It has been said to incorporate some remains from the Guest House of Otterton Priory but there is no evidence of this. Source: Devon SMR.

Listing NGR: ST2452508191