Great Combshead Farmhouse And Outbuildings Adjoining To South East (Or Combes Head Farmhouse)

Great Combshead Farmhouse and Adjoining Outbuildings

A farmhouse dating from the early to mid-17th century, altered and enlarged in the mid to late 19th century, situated near North Molton. The main building is rendered over stone rubble with some cob to the rear, and was partly rebuilt and enlarged in uncoursed stone rubble with red-brick dressings to openings. The roof is gable-ended with scantle-slate tiles. The adjoining outbuildings are constructed of rubble and cob, with gable-ended roofs of slate and corrugated asbestos. Stone stacks are present, with the rear stack built of dressed stone and 19th-century red-brick shafts.

The farmhouse follows a three room and cross-passage plan, facing south-east, with ground falling away to the left. The interior comprises a hall with an external lateral stack to the rear, a former cross passage (possibly once a through passage, with a recess in the rear wall at the foot of the stairs that may indicate a blocked rear doorway), a service room (now the kitchen) beyond with an integral brick end stack, and a former inner room to the right with an integral end stack. A staircase was inserted in the cross passage, probably in the 19th century, approached from the rear.

19th-century alterations included the rebuilding of the left-hand gable end and the addition of a parlour wing at right angles to the front of the service room, with an external lateral stack to the left. A wall dividing the hall and the right-hand ground-floor room was removed, probably sometime in the 20th century. The parlour wing appears to be 19th-century based on window details, though it may be a 19th-century remodelling and refronting of an earlier wing, as suggested by a straight joint on the left-hand return front. A 17th-century chamfered beam aligned with the front wall of the service room may have originally been a spine beam, relocated when the wing was added. The cottage appears to have been latterly divided, as evidenced by a former staircase in the right-hand room.

The building rises to two storeys. The front is asymmetrically fenestrated, with two first-floor late 19th-century three-light wooden casements to the right, two small 20th-century casements to the left, and two ground-floor late 19th-century three-light wooden casements to the right. A 19th-century half-glazed four-panelled cross-passage door is positioned to the left. The wing to the left has a plinth. The gable end to the front features a 19th-century three-light wooden casement to each floor, each with a brick segmental-arched head. The right-hand return front has segmental-headed three-light wooden casements to each floor. The left-hand return front displays a first-floor 19th-century two-light wooden casement to the left of the stack and a 20th-century half-glazed door below in a 19th-century segmental-headed opening. The left-hand gable end is fenestrated with 19th or 20th-century two-light segmental-headed wooden casements to each floor. The stack to the rear of the hall has a slate-roofed lean-to bread oven to its right.

The interior retains significant 17th-century features. The former hall and inner room (now united by the removal of the partition wall) contain 17th-century chamfered cross beams and half beams with scroll stops. An open 17th-century hall fireplace features dressed-stone jambs and a chamfered wooden lintel with runout stops, a 19th-century mantelshelf, and a bread oven to the left with a 19th-century segmental brick arch and cast-iron door. The inner room has an open 17th-century fireplace with dressed sandstone jambs, a chamfered wooden lintel with runout stops, and a bread oven with a 19th-century brick arch and cast-iron door. A chamfered beam between the kitchen and parlour wing may be relocated from elsewhere. The 19th-century stair features a chamfered beam at its foot. A recess in the rear wall at the foot of the stairs may indicate a blocked former rear through-passage doorway. A 19th-century oak door with two raised and fielded panels is present in the first-floor room of the front wing. A 17th-century roof remains over the main range.

One-storey outbuildings adjoin the farmhouse. An outbuilding adjoins at right angles to the front of the right-hand end, with its left-hand end forming a lobby to the house door. The left-hand return features a 20th-century two-light casement and boarded door to the left and a 19th-century two-light wooden window to the right with a wooden lintel. A 19th-century stable adjoins to the right, with a loft door, a ground-floor window to the left, and two segmental-headed boarded doors to the right.

The farmhouse is also known as Coombes Head Farmhouse.