Croppins Combe

Croppins Combe is a farmhouse with a 16th-century core to the western range, where the special interest is concentrated. The eastern range dates largely or wholly from the 19th century and is of lesser interest.

Materials and Construction

The walls are built of local slatestone or 'shilstone' rubble with some granite dressings. The south elevations are rendered. The pitched roofs are slated with clay ridge tiles. The western stack is of stone, while the two stacks to the east range are of brick. There are three sash windows, probably dating from before 1850 but possibly re-used; the remainder are 20th-century replacements.

Plan

The house has a linear footprint on a west-to-east axis. The older part forms a rectangle to the west, with the later eastern range having a square footprint that projects slightly to the south.

Exterior: West Range

The entrance to the west range is through a doorway at the west end of the south elevation. This opening shows signs of recent alteration and now contains glazed plastic doors. The fenestration is irregular. On the ground floor, to the east of the door, is a window with unhorned eight-over-eight sashes; internal evidence shows there was formerly a window beside it to the east. Above is another window with eight-over-eight sash frames. Above the door, slightly to the west, is a square window with a late-20th-century frame. The tops of the upper windows are level with the eaves.

In the western gable elevation, with two rows of pigeon-holes, the stone stack rises from the centre and shows no evidence of rebuilding. There is an area of rebuilding at the south end of the elevation at the junction with the wall joining the house with the cob barn.

The north elevation of the west range shows evidence of much change and patching, with some legible areas. At the centre is a pale scar left by a lean-to shed recently removed in 2015. Towards the east is a tall opening, now blocked, with a wooden lintel—possibly a window or possibly a door originally reached by a stair. There are sections of high-quality stonework to either side, suggesting this may be an early opening. Further west is a blocked window opening, also with a wooden lintel. Above the eastern opening is an area of cob, probably indicating that the walls originally had cob tops for bedding-in the roof trusses. To the east of this, at a high level, are traces of another window.

Exterior: East Range

The east range is of two bays and two storeys and is taller than the west range. The junction between west and east ranges appears continuous on the north elevation, although the east range is accessed at a lower level due to the falling ground. The openings on this elevation of the east range have flat arches formed of granite voussoirs, probably re-used. The windows have concrete cills, and there are large granite quoins to the north-east corner. The doorway contains a 19th-century planked door. The ground-floor window has a 20th-century frame, as does the eastern first-floor window; the western first-floor window has six-over-six sash frames. The eastern elevation is blind.

Rising from the gable is the late-19th-century or early-20th-century red-brick stack, probably rebuilt, with a stepped detail to the apex. The stack to the western gable of this range is of the same design. On the south elevation, the entrance is to the west. The door appears to be a re-used internal door, having flush panels on the exterior and moulded panels to the interior. The window openings have concrete cills and contain late-20th-century frames.

Interior: West Range, Ground Floor

The western room of the western range has a 17th-century fireplace in the centre of the western wall, with a granite lintel beneath a massive timber bressumer. The ceiling of this room has been covered. In the north wall, a cupboard has been formed within the embrasure of the blocked window.

The eastern room of the western range, named as the Parlour, has a central transverse chamfered beam, stopped at the south end in a manner suggesting a 16th-century date, but apparently cut before the stops, perhaps indicating a shortening for re-use. The north end of this beam has been cut to accommodate the 19th-century stair, which winds from the north-east corner of the room, rising straight westwards and accessed by a planked door. At the junction with the kitchen is another beam, partly obscured by the wall and severed and supported at the south end, probably for the creation of the window.

In the south-east corner, set into the south wall, are the remains of a cloam oven, identifying the position of the original fireplace. Adjacent, in the east wall, is a later fireplace, thought to be 17th-century, with a mid-19th-century granite firesurround with chamfered edges. The extant window has 19th-century shutters; the blocked window is evident to the east. Fixed to the wall below the western window is a plain timber bench on curved brackets. The bench is continued round the corner on the dividing wall in later and rougher construction, with plain horizontal panelling behind.

Interior: West Range, First Floor

On the first floor, the stairwell is protected by a plain 19th-century balustrade and handrail. Above, in the north wall, a cupboard is formed from a blocked window. The eastern section of the range has been partitioned to create a corridor to the north and bedroom. The partition extends along the north-south wall below, providing a division between the two upper rooms.

Above the eastern section, two arch-braced collar roof trusses, apparently of 16th-century date, survive. The pegged structure, with morticed and tenoned collars and two rows of threaded purlins, has some blackening consistent with the effect of smoke from a fire in a hall formerly open from ground to roof level. Most of the purlins have been cut, but in places they extend some way beyond the trusses. On the surviving evidence, it seems possible that there were originally more than two open trusses to this part of the roof, but it is likely that the surviving structure represents the size of the original hall.

The three trusses in the western part of the range, thought to be later, are of much less refined construction, being composed of roughly hewn timbers forming A-frames with the collars lapped and pegged to the principal rafters. Both sections of roof have a layer of packing on the outside of the trusses for reducing the pitch of the roof slopes to take slates rather than thatch. A ceiling installed immediately below the roof trusses is now in a state of dilapidation as of 2015. Part of the bottoms of both sets of trusses can be seen embedded in the north wall. There are chimney openings in both rooms; that in the eastern room appears to be 19th-century, and that in the western room 20th-century.

Interior: East Range

The eastern range is entered by opposing doors at the western end of the range, with a passage between occupied by a straight stair with a cupboard beneath. The stair, which follows an early-19th-century model, may have remained in place after the post-1841 rebuilding or may have been re-used from elsewhere. The stair has an open string with moulded treads. The ramped handrail is supported by stick balusters and moulded newel posts, with paired newels at the landing where the balustrade returns to enclose the stairwell. The passage is floored with stone flags.

In the north-east part of the range is the pantry, with a fireplace in the east wall. Its chamfered granite surround is similar to that in the eastern room of the west range. To the south, the sitting room has 19th-century window shutters and panelling, and a mid-20th-century firesurround.

Upstairs, there is a small bathroom to the north-west and bedrooms to north and south. There are no visible historic features within these rooms other than the fireplace in the south bedroom, from which the chimneypiece and grate have been removed. Above the rooms, the scissor-trussed roof is visible, apparently of late-19th-century construction, though possibly dating from the early 20th century.