Tidcombe Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Probably of the 16th century, with later alterations, particularly in the 18th and late 20th centuries. The house is constructed of rendered stone rubble, with a steep asbestos slate roof and two brick lateral stacks at the rear, and a brick end stack on the left.

The plan is an overall T-shaped layout, incorporating an early 19th-century rear stair wing and a later service wing rebuilt in the late 20th century. The original house forms part of a five-room range at the front. The probable original hall is the second room from the left, with the room to the left also part of the original structure. To the right of the hall is a cross passage, leading to a stair hall. Two more rooms lie to the right of the passage; the room on the right is a later addition and was originally unheated.

The exterior is two storeys high, with an overall six-window range and two doorways, each centrally placed within a three-window range. Late 20th-century three-light casements have been installed in the original window openings.

The interior retains six principal rafters and most of the purlins of the original jointed-cruck roof structure, showing no sign of smoke-blackening. The roof structure at the right-hand end of the house is later, probably from the 18th century, with lapped collars. A fine quality oak ceiling structure is a notable feature, featuring a triple-ovolo moulded crossbeam and similar moulded perimeter beams acting as cornices, with bead-moulded joists between. Two original fireplaces remain, though they are partly blocked.

Later features of interest include two 18th-century two-panel doors flanking the entrance hall, similar doors to a cupboard in the second chamber from the right, several 18th-century planked doors at the left-hand end of the house (one with studded nails behind the strap hinges), a large fireplace in the left-hand room, and some early 19th-century six-panel doors with inner beads to the panels. An L-plan bench is built in by the window of the left-hand room, and there is an open-well staircase with stick balusters. Most rooms feature old plaster ceilings and wall surfaces.

Like many early Devon farmhouses, Little Tidcombe Farmhouse has a modest exterior but retains internal evidence of an earlier important status, demonstrated by the high quality of its hall ceiling.