Little Westcombe

Little Westcombe

A house originally built in the 16th century, subsequently altered and divided during the 17th and 18th centuries, and recently restored and reunited into a single dwelling.

The building is constructed of local stone rubble with roughcast rendering applied to the front and end elevations. The roof is asbestos slate with a gabled right end and half-hipped left end. There are three chimneys: a stone rubble gable end stack to the right with rendered shaft, a rendered front lateral stack, and a stone rubble rear lateral stack.

The original plan is a three-room and through-passage arrangement. The lowered end to the left was originally unheated. The higher right end appears to have been extended to create a large inner room with a gable end stack. The hall may originally have been open to the roof, with the front lateral stack and inserted floor probably dating to the 17th century, when the eaves were also raised and the roof rebuilt. Evidence for the open hall includes the two rear stair turrets providing access to the upper and lower storeys, and a mid-floor level front window to the hall that was partially blocked by the later stack and inserted floor. During the 18th or 19th century, the house was converted into three cottages, possibly at which time the inner room was extended and the rear lateral stack added. A lean-to outshut at the rear, of uncertain original date, was heightened in the 20th century during the recent reunification of the cottages.

The front elevation is two storeys with an asymmetrical arrangement of five to six windows, the lower end set back slightly. Windows are 20th-century casements with leaded panes; first-floor openings are relatively small, while some ground-floor openings have been enclosed. A large projecting lateral stack stands to the right of centre with set-offs, weathering, and tapered top. To the left of the stack is a small but tall single-light window at mid-floor level with a slate dripstone, possibly the original hall window before the stack obscured most of it. A passage doorway to the left of centre has a 20th-century plank door with slated lean-to canopy. The rear elevation features slightly projecting stair turrets to the right and left of centre with small single-light windows, a heightened 20th-century lean-to between them, a 20th-century single-storey outshut to the left behind the higher end, and a projecting rear lateral stack to the right. A stove or privy structure with hipped scantle slate roof stands at the right-hand corner.

The interior contains a front lateral hall fireplace with a massive slate-on-edge lintel with chamfer, the stops covered by later strengthening of the jambs, and an oven to the right with brick lining. The partition between the hall and inner room has been replaced with a late 20th-century timber frame, though a timber frame partition may originally have existed above. The hall, passage, and lower room are now separated by 20th-century partitions. Stone newel stairs rise from the rear of the hall, originally to the chamber over the inner room; a further newel stair formerly rose from the rear of the passage to the chamber over the lower end, but these have been removed and replaced with 20th-century straight stairs. The hall and inner room have plastered ceilings, whilst the lower end room has later exposed joists. The roof is constructed with straight principal rafters, collars, and threaded purlins.