Chambercombe Manor With Attached Yard Walls

Chambercombe Manor is a former manor house and farmhouse, dating possibly to the 15th century and built for the Champernon family. It was significantly altered in the 16th, 17th, and later centuries and is now a monument open to the public with private accommodation. The building is constructed of painted slate rubble with a Welsh slate roof. Originally, the plan consisted of a three-room, through-passage layout, with services rebuilt to the left, and a wing to the rear of the inner room. Principal full-height stone internal partitions are present. Later extensions include another wing projecting forward of the hall and upper end.

The front elevation is irregular. The hall likely had an open roof initially; a jetty bressumer is visible at the lower end. A large external lateral stack with set-offs and a tall shaft with a shaped cap is a prominent feature of the hall. To the left of the hall are two-light transomed windows on each floor, the first-floor window beneath a gabled dormer. To the right, there is a single two-light casement window on the ground floor, and a single-storey wing with a four-light window on its end wall, alongside a reconstructed stack at the junction with the main range. The service end's roof is lower than that of the hall; the hall's gable is slate-hung. There are two gabled dormers over a two-light casement window and the entrance to the right of the hall, which is sheltered by a pentice. The service wing has a stair turret to the rear with a small two-light window, all under a catslide roof; an internal lateral stack is located immediately over a tall two-light window to the left.

Inside, the passage doorways have pegged surrounds and moulded lintels, and the passage is flagged. The hall features a chamfered jetty bressumer, with principal beams that are chamfered with raised run-outs, and joists that are similarly chamfered. There are 17th-century panelled cupboards with arched tops, and a lime ash floor. Two rooms form the rear wing; one, presumably a chapel, is unadorned except for a pointed doorway, approached by a small ante-chamber with a timber water stoup. The roof structure of the wing has slightly curved principals and staggered purlins. While the hall range's roof structure is largely obscured by later ceilings, visible sections consist of substantial curved principals that may be jointed crucks. The hall chamber retains a fragmentary plaster ceiling with an undulating foliated band and a central pendant. A main open-well staircase with moulded term balusters is located to the rear of the services.

Attached to the front of the house is a wall of slatestone rubble that defines the courtyard.