Lower Grinacombe Farmhouse

Lower Grinacombe Farmhouse is a farmhouse with a core dating to the late 17th century, with minor alterations made in the 19th century. It is constructed of whitewashed rendered cob, likely on stone rubble footings, with an asbestos slate roof that was formerly thatched. There are rendered stacks, one at the left end with a brick shaft, and another axial stack also with a brick shaft. The original plan consisted of three rooms and a through passage, with the hall stack positioned behind the passage, a heated lower end room, and an unheated inner room. The house appears to have been turned around, and the present entrance is through what was originally the rear of the property. A projecting section in front of the hall, with a catslide roof, might date to the 18th century. A single-storey lean-to adjoins the hall and inner room on the former rear left side; the left return of the lean-to is cob, while the rest is brick and likely represents a 19th-century extension or rebuilding of earlier small service rooms. The unheated inner room was formerly used as a woodstore with an apple loft above. A small fireplace was inserted in the passage into the hall stack in the early 19th century.

The asymmetrical, four-window garden front (the original rear) features a passage doorway immediately to the left of the lean-to. The left-hand side has regular late 19th-century fenestration with four-pane sash windows. Two gabled dormers above the lean-to, also dating to the late 19th century, have two-light casements with three panes per light. A second entrance into the lean-to is located to the left of a three-light casement window with eight panes under a timber lintel. Two blocked windows with timber lintels are visible in the lean-to. The original front elevation has two- and three-light casement windows; the ground floor window to the left, which illuminates the hall, is probably an 18th-century three-light casement with eight panes. The hall projection rises as a flush gabled dormer, displaying pigeon holes with flight ledges to the left of the dormer.

The original through passage plan survives within. The hall fireplace is 20th century and likely conceals earlier jambs and a lintel. A staircase rises within the hall projection. The hall contains a boxed-in ceiling beam and a late 19th-century bench against the right-hand wall with a panelled back and painted graining. A second staircase in the inner room is a mid-20th-century replacement of an earlier one. The lower end fireplace is 20th century and may also conceal earlier building elements. The collar rafter roof, likely from the late 18th or early 19th century, was adapted when the thatch was replaced with slate. Internally, the house remains largely unaltered since the late 19th century.