Dunscombe Farmhouse Including Cob Garden Wall To South-West

Farmhouse, possibly with a core dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, was rebuilt in the late 17th or 18th century and refurbished in the 19th century. It is part of a group value context. The construction is largely Flemish bond brick on footings of squared volcanic stone blocks, with the front block plastered; the roofs are slate-covered. The house consists of two parallel, gable-ended ranges, originally following a double-depth, two-room plan with a central cross passage leading to a rear stair. A 19th-century service block extends to the rear. The main facade faces south-east. There are three gable-ended stacks, plus a rear axial stack to the front right room. The building is two storeys high, with attics in the roof space and a half basement beneath the stairs and vaulted cellars beneath the north-east (right) end. The front has three windows. A late 19th or early 20th-century gabled porch with a glass roof and sides shelters the central doorway. Contemporary 9-pane sash windows are positioned either side, while the first floor features late 19th or early 20th-century sash windows with segmental heads. A high plastered cob wall with a pitched slate roof runs along the south-west side of the garden. The rear elevation is of white-washed brick and incorporates some 19th-century casements with small panes, along with a contemporary five-panel door and a rectangular fanlight enclosed by glazing bars and margin panes. Two probably reset late 16th or early 17th century Beer stone two-light stair windows feature ovolo-moulded mullions and hoodmoulds. Both have two vertical iron bars to each light, and the upper window contains 24 rectangular leaded panes per light. The north-east gable end similarly includes late 16th or early 17th century Beer stone detailing: two arched doorways with re-used moulding lead to the cellars, and two windows with hoodmoulds are on the ground floor. The interior has mainly 19th-century furnishings and fittings, but retains some late 16th to 17th century features. The left rear room has a moulded beam from a four-panel intersecting beam ceiling, while the stairs to the half basement have a closed string, heavy turned oak balusters, and a moulded flat handrail. The dog-leg stair above is likely from the late 17th or 18th century, but the balusters are now boxed in. Plain finished cross beams appear in all first floor rooms and there are eight narrow bays of A-frame trusses in each roof, possibly dating back to the 17th century. The house was apparently rebuilt or refaced in brick in the early 19th century, but the re-use of numerous architectural fragments suggests some earlier fabric remains. Oak panelling and a high-quality carved chimney piece dated 1604 were removed to Downes. The property was formerly known as Higher Dunscombe.