Babcombe Manor

Babcombe Manor is a house, formerly a manor house, now divided into two tenancies. Built in approximately the mid-16th century and remodelled in approximately the mid-17th century, it demonstrates the evolution of a high-quality early house through substantial refurbishment, retaining some granite windows from the earlier phase.

The building is constructed of stone rubble with some remnants of old render, with a slate roof (slates renewed to the front of ridge, scantle slates to rear) featuring some early crested ridge tiles. The roof is gabled at the ends. Chimneys comprise a front lateral stack with a tall stone shaft, gable end stacks, with the right end stack slightly projecting. The plan is a 3-room and through passage arrangement, with the hall heated from the front lateral stack, a small inner room, and a large lower end to the right. Evidence suggests that a 16th-century high-quality house was remodelled and thoroughly refurbished in approximately the mid-17th century. There are indications of a former building adjoining the lower end. A rear outbuilding, at right angles to the main range, is clearly a post-17th-century addition cutting through the hoodmould of a 17th-century window.

The building is of two storeys with an asymmetrical 2:1:1 window front. An approximately central, gabled two-storey porch features a chamfered granite outer doorway with stops. The inner doorframe is moulded with urn stops and a wide plank front door. The three-light casement to the room above the porch has a moulded architrave, mullions and three panes per light. The front lateral stack projects slightly and abuts the porch to the left. A three-light casement with timber ovolo-moulded mullions, lighting the hall to the left of the stack, has a moulded granite architrave with a hoodmould with floral-carved label stops. The ground floor window to the left, lighting the inner room, is a four-light granite mullioned window with chamfered mullions and a hoodmould with label stops. The first floor window to the left is a three-light 18th or 19th-century casement with eight panes per light; the first floor window from the left is a three-light casement with glazing bars. Two windows to the right of the porch both appear to have 20th-century embrasures; it is possible that the lower end had no windows to the front in the 17th century.

The rear elevation has the rear door to the through passage in the centre with a plank door and corrugated iron canopy carried on brackets. To the left of this is a six-light casement (three lights blocked) with six panes per light. The first floor window above is a four-light casement, six panes per light, with a king mullion. The ground floor window to the right, formerly lighting the hall, is particularly interesting: originally an eight-light casement with a king mullion, the right-hand light is now blocked by the rear left wing. The casements have three panes per light and a timber hoodmould with label stops and unusually elaborate internal decoration. The first floor window above appears to have been similar on the exterior but has been partly blocked with a 20th-century window inserted. A circa late 17th-century left gable end doorway with a door of fielded panels with moulded surrounds gives access to the inner room.

Interior

The interior contains remarkable survival of circa mid-17th-century features. A partition wall has been inserted parallel with the rear wall of the hall, forming a narrow rear passage or service room. Unfortunately this has separated the principal (rear) window of the hall from the hall itself. The window is splendidly embellished with moulded plaster standing proud of the mullions with geometric and floral motifs and a richly decorated bracket in the centre, forming a notable survival in association with other features in the hall.

The partition between the hall and inner room is a variation on the plank and muntin screen with chamfered stopped muntins and two ledges, forming large robust panels. A plaster frieze above the screen has floral and scroll ornament. A cross beam, which projects through the later partition into the rear passage, has moulded plaster cornices. The screen to the passage has a four-centred oak door with carved geometrical design and floral motifs in the spandrels. On the passage side the screen has widely-spaced ovolo-moulded muntins with plain muntins between. The partition wall to the lower end has a good plank and stud door.

The lower end room has had a small kitchen inserted against the front wall with a stair between the kitchen and screens passage. There is one moulded cross beam, much of the moulding plastered over, and a 20th-century grate possibly concealing earlier features. A long bench is set in the thickness of the rear wall below the formerly six-light window. Two first floor ovolo-moulded doorways above the lower end exist, the doorway to the room over the porch with urn stops. This room was formerly heated by a flue leading into the hall stack. The doorway to the attic stairs has a good plank and stud door.

The roof trusses are of pegged collar rafter design, consistent with a late 17th or 18th-century date. A fine house, relatively unaltered in the 19th and 20th centuries, it preserves an important 17th-century hall with some outstanding features. Documents relating to the house survive in the Devon Record Office.