Coombe Farmhouse

Coombe Farmhouse is a former farmhouse of early 16th-century origin, substantially remodelled in the early 17th century, with two rear wings probably dating to the late 17th or 18th century. A 1970s or 80s extension and alterations have been added. The building is constructed of whitewashed rendered cob and stone with a thatched roof featuring a plain ridge and gables at the ends of the main block; the rear right wing is hipped, and the rear left wing has a corrugated iron roof with a gable end. An axial stack rises from the main block, alongside a projecting truncated stack at the right end; the rear left wing has a projecting end stack.

The building originated as a late medieval open hall house with three rooms and a through passage, probably open from end to end with the lower end to the right. The lower end was floored first, jettying into the hall and providing two ground floor service rooms with a chamber above. The hall and inner room were floored later, with the hall stack inserted backing on to the passage; the inner room remained narrow and unheated. A single-room rear wing at right angles to the hall is probably a late 17th-century parlour. A large rear right wing, at right angles to the lower end, was formerly a hay barn. The area between these wings has been roofed over and extended by a 20th-century lean-to, with a further 20th-century addition at the left end of the main range. Some details present puzzles: the carpentry of the lower end is similar to the hall, and the internal jetty may be integral with the open hall.

Externally, the front displays two storeys with an asymmetrical arrangement of one window and four windows, with the left window serving a 20th-century addition. Eyebrow thatching extends over the four right-hand windows. A gabled thatched porch protects the through passage to the right of centre, with a buttress at the extreme right. The windows are mostly 19th-century small-pane timber casements, except for the ground floor left of the new extension, which is 20th-century. The right return comprises the gable end of the main block and the former haybarn, featuring small-pane timber casements except at the ground floor left, where a 17th-century timber ovolo-moulded mullioned window lights the lower end of the main range; the mullions have been replaced, but the frame remains intact. A two-light chamfered timber mullioned window, probably dating to the 17th century, has been re-sited in the 20th-century rear lean-to and originally came from the former hay barn.

The interior shows good survival of 16th and 17th-century carpentry. The cross passage features a square-headed chamfered 17th-century rear doorframe and a fine plank and muntin screen to the lower end, with deeply chamfered scratch-moulded stopped muntins and two doorframes leading into the two lower end service rooms. The front service room has scratch-moulded joists. The hall chimney breast, backing on to the higher end wall of the passage, is topped with a granite cornice. The hall and inner room partition was removed in the 1970s or 80s. The hall contains a chamfered axial beam, scratch-moulded joists, a jetty with moulded joists adjacent to the stack, and an open fireplace with granite jambs, a scroll-stopped lintel, and a bread oven. A recess next to the stack contains a cream oven, with a timber lintel rebated for a door; this recess may be a former stair turret or walk-in curing chamber. The rear left wing is relatively plain, with an open fireplace featuring a timber lintel.

An incomplete late medieval smoke-blackened roof of jointed cruck construction survives over part of the hall and apparently extends over the lower end, though access to the roofspace was restricted at the time of survey in 1986. The medieval roof survives below a later roof and clearly extended further over the hall and inner room, evident from the truncated ridge. The jointed crucks are side-pegged with principals morticed at the apex and a diagonally-set ridge; some sooted rafters remain. This is an evolved traditional house of late medieval origins with many surviving features.