Planned Farmyard North West of Home Farmhouse

Planned Farmyard North-West of Home Farmhouse

A planned farmyard comprising four ranges of farm buildings arranged around a square courtyard with a covered yard in the centre. Dating to circa mid-19th century, the buildings are said to be earlier than Home Farmhouse itself, which is dated 1876. Constructed in red sandstone with slate and corrugated asbestos roofs, the farmyard was built to serve the home farm of Haccombe House.

The arrangement is large-scale and functional. Opposed entrances to the yard create a through route connecting the farmhouse to the fields to the north. The north-east range is built into the slope of the land and incorporates the site of a former overshot water wheel, which was the power source for the farm machinery. A leat originally carried water to this wheel in a launder supported on piers. Rear access to the threshing loft is provided at the upper level of this range.

The south-west range is believed to have been a shippon (cattle shed). The exact original use of the other two ranges is not entirely clear, though a sale catalogue of 1942 refers to stables, bullock sheds, fattening and calving pens, as well as grain stores and granaries. The areas between the covered yard and the south-west and south-east ranges have been roofed over, and some original openings have been blocked. Otherwise the yard remains substantially complete.

The north-east range, facing the yard, is divided to the right of centre by the housing of the former water wheel. To the right are two loft doors and one window, with two ground-floor doors. At the extreme left is a door flanked by windows, leading to a four-bay open-fronted implement or cartshed with granite piers. A further doorway to the right, partly concealed by a later lean-to, is said to have been the blacksmith's shop; one loft door opens above. The rear elevation has five doors accessing the loft.

The south-east range includes a wide entrance from the farmhouse. Facing the yard, the left-hand block has a two-light loft window and is open-fronted below with a granite pier. To the right of the entrance are two loft doors, an open-fronted cart or implement shed to the left, a large doorway with a segmental brick arch, and two smaller doors to the right, with two loft doors above. The rear elevation has one doorway.

The south-west range, facing the yard, has one large doorway to the left and four shippon doors with brick arches, and a modern doorway at the right end. The rear elevation, facing the road to Haccombe House, has two full-height doorways with paired plank doors—one in the centre and one to the right. The gable end of the left-hand portion has a full-height doorway with a loft opening above. The right-hand gable end has one ground-floor window and one loft window.

The north-west range, facing the yard, has four doorways (one blocked), four windows (one blocked), two loft doors, and one window. A full-height cart entrance at the right end has a row of pigeon holes beneath the roof. The rear elevation contains a large blocked doorway with a segmental arch.

The covered yard features a row of windows under the eaves facing the south-west range, with three doors. Similar windows facing the north-east range have been blocked. Doorways open through both end walls.

The farmyard is impressively sited in the valley, with Haccombe House and the parish church to the south-east.