Luscombe Farmhouse

Luscombe Farmhouse, originally a manor house, dates largely to the 16th century, with significant additions and alterations in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and further work in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The construction is of stone rubble, with slate hipped and gabled roofs. The original design incorporated a through passage, with the passage and lower end surviving. A late 16th or early 17th century kitchen wing was added to the rear (southeast) of the lower end, alongside an early 17th century porch to the front of the through passage, and a 17th century parlour wing to the front (northwest) of the higher end. The hall and higher end were completely rebuilt and enlarged in the late 17th century and remodelled in the 18th century, resulting in a symmetrical front and an L-shaped plan with the remodelled 17th century kitchen wing projecting to the right.

The north front, dating to the 18th century, has five bays with sash windows featuring glazing bars and ashlar voussoirs over flat arches. A band runs along the first floor level. The central entrance has a fielded panel door with a rectangular fanlight and a hood supported on shaped brackets, with later timber posts. An oval slate sundial is set into the front wall. A projecting kitchen wing to the right has a steeply pitched hipped slate roof and 19th century two and three-light casements with glazing bars. A large lateral stack is located on the opposite (east) side of the kitchen wing. On the north side, a 17th century gabled wing has blocked openings and 18th century one and two-light sash windows. To the left is an early 17th century, two-storied gabled porch to the through passage, featuring a finely cut chamfered round arch and a three-light chamfered timber mullion window above, with leaded panes and a chamfered timber lintel. The joists inside the porch are moulded with run-out stops.

Inside, the drawing room, located in the position of the enlarged hall, has a late 17th century moulded plaster ceiling and fielded ovolo panelling. An adjoining room to the north retains earlier 17th century moulded panelling and cornice. The earlier higher end retains its 18th century joinery, including fielded panel doors, shutters, a dog-leg staircase with moulded balusters and handrail, square newels, and a closed string. Three jointed cruck trusses remain from the original 16th century roof at the lower end, with morticed apices, morticed cranked collars, side pegs, two tiers of threaded purlins, and a diagonal threaded ridge piece; only one rafter remains. A similar truss over the lower side of the passage has a crown post. Luscombe was a manor recorded in the Domesday Book. The house is remarkably unspoiled and has remained largely unaltered since the 18th century.