Whitcombe Farmhouse

Whitcombe Farmhouse is a former farmhouse dating from around the late 16th century, and potentially incorporating elements of an earlier building. The main block is constructed of whitewashed cob on stone rubble footings, with a slate roof (previously thatched). It has end stacks and an axial stack to the main block, the latter featuring a stone shaft with drip ledges. The original plan comprised a three-room and cross-passage main range, with a lower end kitchen to the left, a hall stack backing onto the passage, and a crosswing containing unheated service rooms. A stair turret at the rear of the hall has been altered. According to the owner, the house may have begun as an open hall, however the roof apex was destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. A small 19th-century cottage adjoins the right end.

The front facade is asymmetrical, featuring six windows. Steps lead to a 20th-century timber front door located to the left of centre. Most windows are 19th and 20th-century timber casements, except for a late 16th or 17th-century four-light timber mullioned window on the first floor, fourth window from the left. The rear elevation exhibits a stair projection and four casement windows, with a 20th-century door leading into the lower end room.

The interior is richly carpentered. The hall features a good original fireplace with stone jambs and a chamfered lintel with unusual rounded stops, alongside a step-stopped crossbeam and exposed joists. An original plank and muntin oak screen separates the hall from the inner room, the muntins being chamfered and stopped off at hall bench level. The inner room has an exposed chamfered crossbeam and joists, with a rebuilt fireplace in the 20th century. The kitchen has a rough exposed crossbeam and joists; the fireplace has been rebuilt, though the lintel is likely original, and incorporates two bread ovens. The passage contains a plank and muntin screen to the lower end partition; the doorway has been moved, but the original doorframe with an arched lintel remains. The service wing, originally two rooms now combined, features carpentry believed to be of 18th-century date. The roof's apex was lost in the earlier fire, but remnants of side-pegged jointed cruck trusses are visible on the first floor. It is a late 16th-century or earlier traditional farmhouse, notable for its interior architectural details.