Bodmiscombe Farmhouse

Bodmiscombe Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating probably to around 1600, with later additions and extensions. The construction is primarily of roughcast random rubble, though a significant portion of the upper walls is lath and plaster. The roof is covered in slate. Originally, the house likely comprised three or four rooms with a through-passage, with the service area positioned to the left of the passage (now blocked at the front). Two rooms were later added to the right, heated by a brick stack built externally to the rear. The original service area has an axial stone stack; the main hall is heated by a large external stone stack, the shaft of which has been dismantled, and the inner room has a large axial stack that also serves a fourth room, whose original design is uncertain. A building that may have been a detached kitchen formerly stood to the rear of this fourth room, featuring deep chamfered beams and a large fireplace with an oven. A rear staircase was added around 1800, alongside a two-story detached kitchen. The front elevation features a regular seven-window arrangement; the ground floor and first floor windows are identical, with 19th-century three-light casements (wooden frames with cast-iron glazing bars) at the service end and service end extension. Metal casement windows were installed in the middle of the 20th century for the remaining windows. The rear elevation has an irregular window arrangement. The lath and plaster upper wall covering accounts for the top seven feet of the wall. Inside, the original hall retains intact intersecting ceiling beams forming four panels with a composite moulding of cyma reversa, cavetto, and bead. The current occupier reports the existence of a plank and muntin screen, and a large fireplace lintel and jambs, both concealed. The present main entrance opens into a passage that cuts across the hall beams. There are small plaster cornices dating to around 1800, along with extensive 1800s joinery including panelled doors. The dog-leg staircase has stick balusters and turned newels, lit by a tall round-headed two-light window with Y-tracery. Two doors, possibly dating to the late 17th or early 18th century, include HL hinges. The roof features straight principals that extend down into the walls, crossed, halved and pegged at the apex.