Owlacombe Farmhouse And Short Section Of Adjoining Front Garden Wal

Owlacombe Farmhouse and Short Section of Adjoining Front Garden Wall

A rendered cob farmhouse, now divided, dating from the late 15th or early 16th century with alterations made in the early 17th century, further altered and probably enlarged in the mid 19th century, and a minor late 19th or early 20th century addition. The rendered mid 19th century addition is probably built over stone rubble. The roof is gable-ended with 20th century asbestos-slate (replacing 19th century Welsh slates). Circa 1900 additions are of squared snecked stone with red brick dressings and gable-ended slate roof. Rendered and later stacks are present.

The original plan, dating to around 1500, comprises three rooms with a through passage, facing north-east with ground falling to the left. A central hall has an external lateral stack to the front, a through passage and former service room to the right, and two rooms to the left with an axial stack between the hall and the first room and an integral end stack to the left-hand room. The hall was formerly open to the roof, with the first floor and stack probably inserted in the early 17th century. A porch to the through passage with a winder staircase to the right is also probably a 17th century addition. The two rooms to the left of the hall are probably a mid 19th century addition but may be an enlargement of a room from around 1500 or later. An entrance hall immediately to the left of the main hall contains a mid 19th century straight flight staircase along the rear wall with an entrance to the front. The service room at the right-hand end has been divided longitudinally, probably a 19th century alteration, with the rear part functioning as a dairy. The rear doorway of the through passage was probably blocked in the 19th century. A kitchen wing projects at right angles to the rear of the left-hand end with an integral later stack, probably a mid 19th century addition though possibly incorporating earlier fabric. The house was divided in the late 20th century with a kitchen formed from part of the entrance hall to the left of the main hall. A circa 1900 outbuilding adjoins at right angles to the rear of the right-hand end; it is two storeys with a one-storey addition.

The front hall stack has chamfered offsets and a tapered square shaft with a set-back top stage. A later second flue is positioned to the left. The front is asymmetrically fenestrated with four windows to the first floor and three to the ground floor, mostly 19th century two-light small-paned wooden casements with some replaced by 20th century plate-glass casements. A porch to the right has a catslide roof and a depressed-arched opening. The doorway has a continuously-chamfered round-arched pegged wooden frame with broach stops dating to around 1500 (repaired in the 19th century) and a 19th century six-panelled door with the lower three panels beaded flush and upper three recessed. A small 19th century two-light wooden casement to the right of the porch archway lights the staircase. A doorway between the first and second windows from the left has a 20th century glazed door and a 19th century beaded wooden frame. Two ground-floor 20th century small-paned two-light wooden casements are located in the left-hand gable end, set in mid 19th century openings. Two large gabled semi-dormers are present to the side of the rear wing with 19th century two- and three-light wooden casements in the gable end. The outbuilding at the rear of the right-hand end has a segmental-headed two-light wooden casement to the right and a segmental-headed plank door to the left. A short section of stone rubble garden wall adjoins the right-hand front corner of the house, with a gateway in the right-hand side and another gateway opposite.

The through passage is flanked by stud partitions and features a 19th century matchboarded dado. A probably 17th century oak winder stair is located in the projection to the right of the porch. The hall contains three 17th century chamfered cross beams. A mid 19th century staircase to the left of the hall has a closed string, diagonally-set stick balusters and a turned foot newel. Mid 19th century six-panelled doors are present in the left-hand end of the house. End windows in the left-hand ground-floor end rooms have jambs which continue to floor level. Most of the roof was rebuilt in the mid to late 19th century. One remaining smoke-blackened truss from around 1500 survives over the centre of the hall, with straight principals (apparently) and a mortice and tenoned cambered collar. The late Medieval roof also had threaded purlins and a diagonally-set ridge-piece, set in a slot in the mortice and tenoned apex.

Owlacombe is a manor mentioned in Domesday Book.