Coham

Coham is a small country house that has been the seat of the Coham family, who continue to occupy it. The building dates from the 18th century, possibly incorporating earlier fabric, with a substantial addition built in 1872. The walls are of stone rubble, partly rendered, with a gable-ended slate roof. Brick stacks rise from the rear wings and stone stacks from the front range.

The plan reflects the building's evolution. The earlier part of the house occupies the rear, consisting of two long parallel wings. Although these wings display no features earlier than the 18th century, they may incorporate earlier fabric within them. During the 19th century, these wings were subdivided and relegated largely to service purposes, though they still contain a sizeable dining room and library with a staircase behind it. In 1872, a new front range was constructed at right angles to these wings in the Elizabethan style, comprising three large rooms, with the central space serving as an entrance hall. A new stair hall was created in the 18th-century wing immediately behind and to the left. A late 19th or early 20th-century two-storey lean-to addition was subsequently built behind the right end of the 1872 range. A large rear courtyard, which incorporates a 17th-century arch, probably derives from an earlier building on the site.

Externally, the house displays two storeys. The 1872 front range is symmetrical, comprising three bays and five windows. It features slightly projecting gables to left and right, with a central stone-coped two-storey gabled porch. This porch is embellished with a three-light stone oriel window with mullions, crenellated and corbelled out from the wall above a four-centre arched chamfered stone doorway fitted with glazed and panelled double doors. A heraldic device, motto, and the date 1872 are carved in a stone panel set within the gable. The windows are of stone mullion type: the outer ones are three-light and the inner ones two-light, with the ground floor windows taller and fitted with transoms. Decorative barge-boards ornament the outer gables. Each gable end wall features a tall three-light mullioned and transomed window on the ground floor.

The outer elevation of the longer rear wing displays a five-window front. On the first floor to the left are two late 18th or early 19th-century paired twelve-pane sashes, followed by an 18th-century Venetian stair window with stained glass. Below these are two small granite-framed lights and a tall bay window to the left, probably of early 19th-century date, with a reeded frieze and modillion cornice, together with two later 19th-century paired sashes to the left. The inner wing elevation has six windows comprising three late 18th or early 19th-century leaded two-light casements, a 19th-century tripartite window, a sixteen-pane sash, a paired fifteen-pane sash, and a 19th-century two-light casement. A 19th-century plank door and a six-panelled door are positioned to the right and centre respectively. A two-storey lean-to structure is located behind the right end.

The rear courtyard is enclosed on two sides by stone and cob walls and a range of low outbuildings at the rear. Between these and the house stands a large brick arch incorporating a datestone of 1765. The cob wall opposite the 18th-century wing contains a 17th-century round-headed granite arch with hollow chamfer and an elaborate panelled door, with a small gable in the wall above.

Internally, the 18th-century wing retains its open well staircase with open string, carved tread ends, turned balusters, column newels, and ramped handrail. Five large funeral hatchments commemorating members of the Coham family hang on the staircase walls. Some simple 18th-century chimneypieces survive, as do panelled shutters. The 1872 wing preserves fairly complete joinery, including partly tongue-and-groove panelled walls. The central hall features an ornate stone fireplace and overmantle in Tudor style.