Eastacombe Farmhouse And Adjoining Granaries And Pump House

Eastacombe Farmhouse comprises a C16 farmhouse, possibly with an earlier core (a 1597 datestone is present in the porch), partially refronted in the 18th century (a 1735 carving is visible on a ground floor window jamb) and with a large C19 wing added to the rear. The construction is primarily cob, with shale and dressed stone facing to the left, and squared rubble to the right of a cob porch faced in rubble. The roof is slate, hipped at the left end and gable-ended to the right.

The farmhouse has a central passage flanked by a single room to each side, with a two-storey gable-ended porch to the front and a projecting stair turret to the rear, also gable-ended. An outshut is located in the angle to the east, with a lean-to slate roof and a right-angled long extension to the rear left end, forming an L-shaped plan. Further extensions northwards create granaries and outbuildings, projecting eastwards to complete a three-sided courtyard plan. A brick stack is situated at the right gable end of the main range, and a lateral stack to the rear of the cell to the left is now incorporated into an extension.

The front elevation presents a two-storey, three-window range. The porch, almost at the centre, has a two-light casement with 12 panes to each light over a stone roll-moulded doorway, possibly reset with a depressed Tudor arch and plain spandrels, and a datestone inscribed "F 20 B 1597 E 40 R” near the top of the wall. A fine C17 inner doorway features a chamfered surround and heavily carved ornamentation near the base of the jambs. A three-plank door with cover strips and square-headed nails is present. To either side of the porch, C20 three-light timber casements are on each floor, within altered window openings with cambered brick arches; that at the top left retains C18/C19 12-paned casements. Carved into the right-hand ground floor window jamb is “L 11 1735”, with an inverted stone with initials GLELRL nearby. A two-light window sits above a single light window in a slightly narrow two-storey projection, accommodating a garderobe at the right gable end.

The rear C19 wing has two axial brick stacks and a three-window range of sashes with 8 panes over 8 panes on each floor, with flat brick arches. The granaries extend northwards, then at right angles to the east, with a hipped slate roof and external stone steps leading to two plank doors, with a loft door to the right. Lower two-plank doors are also present, with brick arches. A single-storey rubble extension to the right has a slate roof and a central opening.

Adjacent to the east end of the granary, and projecting into the courtyard, is a small rectangular pump-house with a hipped slate roof, open to the front and north side.

Internally, much of the original joinery remains, including stopped and chamfered door frames in most rooms, early doors to the principal cell to the left of the passage and to the upper storey of the porch. A winder staircase has a moulded handrail and square newels with stick balusters to a first flight only. The roof space was not inspected.