Shapcombe Farmhouse

Shapcombe Farmhouse is a house dating from the mid- to late 16th century, with alterations in the early 17th century, and a 19th-century service wing. Modernizations occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. The structure is built primarily of plastered local stone and flint rubble, possibly with some cob, and has stone rubble stacks, two topped with 20th-century brick. The parlour has a stone rubble chimney shaft with Beerstone quoins. The roof is slate, with crested ridge tiles, and was formerly thatched.

Originally built with a 3-room-and-through-passage plan facing south-east, the house is situated on a hillslope, with a slight slope from right to left. The parlour, situated on the north-eastern side, has a gable-end stack with a projecting oven housing. It is separated from the kitchen by the passage. The kitchen has an axial stack backing onto a small, unheated room, formerly a dairy or buttery, on the left end. A single-room plan service block projects at right angles to the rear of the parlour, later converted to domestic use with a gable-end stack. The house's layout appears to be the result of a substantial early 17th-century rearrangement, which included reversing the original room functions—the present parlour was constructed as a kitchen, and the present kitchen was originally the parlour. The roof is of mid- to late 16th-century date, but evidence of the earlier house has largely been obscured by plaster or removed.

The main house has an irregular four-window front with 20th-century casement windows, some with iron frames. The passage front doorway is positioned just right of center and is accessed through a 20th-century gabled porch with a part-glazed plank door. A secondary doorway at the left end is situated behind a 20th-century conservatory. The roof terminates in gable ends.

The interior has been significantly altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, and much of the original fabric is likely hidden behind plaster. In the kitchen (the former parlour), a plain chamfered crossbeam remains, and the fireplace is blocked, though the size is apparent and it is known to have an oak lintel. The parlour (former kitchen) retains a plain chamfered crossbeam and an exposed large fireplace, constructed of plastered stone with a chamfered oak lintel, including a large 19th-century oven. The roof, between the stacks, is three bays wide and supported by two boxed-in arch-braced trusses. The rear block exhibits plain 19th-century carpentry details.