East Avercombe Farmhouse

SS 72 SE 6/36

BISHOP'S NYMPTON AVERCOMBE East Avercombe Farmhouse

GV II

Farmhouse. Circa mid C17, re-roofed and modernised in the circa mid/late C19. Whitewashed rendered stone, the rear right wing partly cob (information from owner); slate roof, gabled at ends with 3 gables to the front; end stacks, the left end stack with a stone shaft, projecting front lateral stack with a stone and brick shaft. Plan: Overall L plan, the north-facing main range 3 room and cross passage on plan, lower end to the right, presumably serving as the kitchen (bread oven to stack). In the C19 the house was re-roofed, re-windowed and partly remodelled with a straight run stair added in a lean-to behind the centre room, parallel to the south wall, with access from the rear of the passage. The rear right dairy wing, now used as a kitchen, at right angles to the lower end, may also be C19 and appears to have linked the main range to an earlier, possibly C18 cob agricultural building which was adapted as a wash-house and back kitchen. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front with 3 gables to the front, all with C19 bargeboards of different designs. The projecting stack is flanked by a hall bay to the left and a lean-to porch to the right to the through passage with a plank front door with a C19 glazed overlight and glazed panels to left and right. Set of probably late C19 paired 2-pane sash windows. The stair window, in the left end of the rear stair projection, is an attractive C19 cast iron fixed window with Gothic quatrefoils and some stained glass. Interior: The C17 hall has 2 good richly-moulded C17 stopped crossbeams and an open fireplace with a chamfered scroll stopped lintel. The inner room has a possibly C20 girder or beam, axially placed and boxed-in. The lower end room has a plain crossbeam; the fireplace is blocked but may retain a C17 lintel and is said to have a bread oven. Roof: Apex not seen at time of survey but said to be C19 over the main range (South Molton archive). The roof of the former wash-house and back kitchen is probably early C19. An attractive combination of C17 origins and C19 refashioning. Record of house in the South Molton Archive, Soutl Molton Library.

Listing NGR: SS7665423218