Higher Cobbaton Farmhouse, Including Shippon Attached To West

Higher Cobbaton Farmhouse is a late 16th/early 17th century farmhouse, extended in the 17th century, with a shippon attached to its west side. The shippon is likely of the same date as the farmhouse, though it has undergone later alterations and was reroofed in the 20th century. The farmhouse is constructed of painted rendered stone rubble and cob, while the shippon is of similar materials. It features an asbestos stack at the right end and a tall, rendered lateral hall stack to the front, with offsets. Originally a true longhouse, the through-passage to the shippon has been blocked, and the rear through-passage doorway infilled.

The farmhouse has a hall and inner room to the right of the through-passage, and a right-angled kitchen extension of two storeys to the rear, forming an overall T-shaped plan. The farmhouse itself is two storeys high. The tallet floor has been mostly removed from the shippon end. The front of the farmhouse has a three-window range with a 2-light casement window above the through-passage doorway and a wide plank door. To the right of the stack, on each floor, are a 2-light casement with 4 panes per light and a horned sash window with 3 over 3 panes. The projection of the hall stack has a tall, 4-paned single-light window. A buttress sits between the hall and inner room. The shippon has a loft opening and a plank door above a window opening at the left end, and a plank shutter to the right-hand window, with four pigeon holes above.

The interior retains much of its original joinery. A 4-centred arched doorway with a chamfered surround leads to the rear of the hall. Cyma reversa door surrounds with ornately carved stops appear between the hall/inner room and to the rear of the inner room, to the stair turret. Similar stops adorn the ovolo moulded door surround to the left at the head of the stairs, alongside a 17th century plank door with cover strips opposite the head of the stairs. An ovolo moulded surround with a chamfered and stopped lintel frames the doorway to the dairy at the bottom of the stairs. A section of probably 17th century panelling survives, forming a 12-panel screen to the principal chamber. There are two chamfered and stopped surrounds to the rear landing passage doorways, and moulded plasterwork cornices in the inner room and principal chamber above. A creamery is located at the rear of the hall. While the roofspace is inaccessible, the height of the ceilings and the survival of plasterwork cornices suggest that a collar-rafter roof may still exist.