Lower Coombe

Lower Coombe is a house dating to around 1700, with alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The exterior is of painted slate rubble, with a probable component of cob. The roof is an asbestos slate hip. A very large stone rubble rear lateral stack has set-offs, with a rendered shaft added above. Another chimney shaft rises from the front wall.

Originally a three-room plan, the large room to the left served as a hall/kitchen, featuring a large rear lateral kitchen fireplace. The narrow room to the right was originally unheated. The original front doorway provides direct access to the right of the centre room, which contains a straight staircase along the back wall and a small lateral front fireplace, potentially an addition. If so, the centre room was initially unheated, and the stack was likely added in the 19th century when an unheated outshut was added to the back of the left-hand room. The partition between the right-hand room and the centre room was removed, probably in the 20th century. A new doorway with a porch was added in the late 20th century, providing direct entry to the left-hand room. The ground level slopes downwards towards the left-hand end of the house, falling away at the front and rising behind.

The exterior presents an asymmetrical three-window, two-storey facade. It features early 20th-century two-light, 12-pane casements with slate sills, with a later 20th-century casement on the ground floor to the right. The original doorway is situated to the right of the centre, with a chamfered lintel and a late 20th-century glazed door. A 20th-century doorway with a rendered porch and an asbestos slate lean-to roof is located to the left of the centre, alongside a stone rubble chimney shaft rising from the front wall. At the rear, there’s an early 20th-century two-light casement with glazing bars, a small centre ground-floor window, and a narrow left-hand ground-floor fixed light. A very large stone rubble projecting lateral stack with set-offs is set to the right, with a single-storey outshut in front, featuring 19th-century casements and a side doorway.

Inside, the left-hand room, the hall/kitchen, contains a large near lateral fireplace with a roughly hewn, cambered lintel, stone rubble jambs, and a blocked oven to the left. The central room has a small front lateral fireplace with an unchamfered lintel. A plastered stud partition originally separated the left and centre rooms; the partition between the right and centre rooms was removed. The left-hand rooms have closely-spaced, roughly hewn cross-beams. The straight staircase is located at the back of the central room. Roof inspection revealed straight principal rafters and purlins resting on their backs.