Collacombe Manor

Collacombe Manor is a Grade I listed manor house with a complex building history spanning multiple centuries. Originally dating from the pre-Reformation period, the house was constructed in four main phases: a first rectangular block probably with a separate chapel to its north east; an early 16th-century chapel attached to the main range; alterations dated 1574 to the later 16th century, including a porch architrave, plasterwork, gateway to forecourt and fireplaces; and a 17th-century rear block probably used as a brewhouse, with successive later alterations.

The building is constructed of granite rubble with granite dressings and hipped slate roofs with ridge stacks in brick featuring a bell between stack shafts over the lower end to the kitchen, a rear lateral hall stack and gable stack to the left. The original plan comprised three rooms and a through passage, with the chapel probably attached to the main building in the 16th century. A 17th-century separate brewhouse was connected to the main house probably in the 19th century by a service range to the rear, which also enclosed a rear passage door.

The house presents an overall L-shaped plan formed by the front chapel wing, with two storeys and a symmetrical five-window front elevation. The main range features two windows to the lower end on the right, a two-storey porch to the right of centre, a hall window to the left of centre and one window at the higher end on the left. The chapel wing projects at the extreme left end. The service end to the right has two four-light granite mullioned windows at ground and first floors with two-centred arched heads set in recessed hollow-chamfered surrounds with 20th-century leaded lights and some replaced mullions.

The central two-storey porch has a similar arched door opening roll-moulded with Doric columns, a pediment and shield of arms in the tympanum, with a lion mask corbel supporting an oriel above containing three similar openings with a 20th-century door with strap hinges. To the left, a large 18-light window to the hall retains original glazing with a moulded central mullion, flat heads to lights except two-centred arched heads to upper lights with hexagonal leaded glazing. Four-light windows appear at ground and first floor to the left of the porch and to the right of the porch.

The inner side of the wing to the left has two similar four-light windows at ground and first floor with some replaced mullions. The front of the wing features a two-light chamfered granite mullioned window with 20th-century leaded lights at ground floor left, a door opening with granite lintel, rebuilt stonework at ground floor to the right, and a first floor off-centre small single granite light with hollow-chamfered ogee head. The right return has a rebuilt wall with a 19th-century two-light casement at first floor right with four panes per light. The left return, built into the slope, has a small single light at ground level below a 20th-century corbelled wooden oriel with three-light front and single-light sides, a reset two-light granite mullioned window, and a half-gable end of the main range set back to the left with a buttressed stack and a ground floor 20th-century open-fronted addition of three bays with rubble piers.

The rear elevation features entirely 19th and 20th-century fenestration. Two bays to the right have ground floor 20th-century two-light casements inserted in segmental-headed former door openings and a large segmental-headed three-light casement with brick dressings. The first floor has two 16-pane sashes with gauged brick segmental heads in exposed boxes of different sizes. A weathered external hall stack to the left has a 19th-century addition for a stair at its base with a four-pane light. Two bays to the left have 20-pane segmental-headed sashes at first floor, with a 19th-century service lean-to at ground floor containing two 20th-century two-light casements, a central half-glazed door and an outer door. Two end bays to the left have a door with a 20th-century concrete external stair and a former segmental-headed window opening to the right, a straight joint with wall rebuilt to the left, a reset two-light granite window and a blocked 19th-century segmental-headed window opening at first floor.

Attached to the rear lean-to is a two-storey former brewhouse with hipped slate roof. Its outer elevation has a wide door opening and a lean-to with a 20th-century three-light casement at ground floor right and three timber lintels remaining at first floor with a three-pane light. The right return has a three-light 20th-century casement at first floor, and the left return has a lean-to and a similar first floor casement. The rear has a door with a four-pane light with timber lintel and two 20th-century two-light casements at first floor, one with cambered timber lintel; the wall steps forward to the left with a door to the end.

The interior retains significant features. The passage contains a hall screen to its left with horizontal boarding, visible in a cupboard under the stair. An early rere-arch remains on the front wall (with no external evidence) indicating re-facing of an earlier hall, with a straight stair inserted. The plasterwork ceiling features coving, frieze, ribs and pendants. A large plaster overmantel to the rear fireplace is dated 1574 with shield, fleuron frieze and pediment. To the south is a three-light upper window to the hall chamber with two-centred arches and shell mouldings in the tympana with plain pilasters between. To the east, an internal jetty formerly extending to the rear of the building is carved with four grotesque figures and plasterwork royal arms of Queen Elizabeth above; a gallery has been planted on this former structure. A doorway to the north east leads to a connecting block containing a garderobe and a winder stair about two newels with stops and later 17th-century turned balusters.

The ground floor front room in the wing contains a plaster overmantel removed from the hall chamber, featuring caryatids and a central shield of arms above a fireplace with segmental granite head, roll-moulded with carved spandrels, two heavy cross-beams and 20th-century plasterwork shell niches to the front wall. The room to the rear has a granite fireplace with segmental head, roll-moulded and hollow-chamfered, with a partition wall to the north.

To the right of the passage, a fireplace has a wide flat-headed granite lintel with ovens to left and right featuring curved backs visible in an end room, two beams on granite corbels over the fireplace, and a door with a two-centred arched head, roll-moulded, to the passage. This end room was formerly a dairy. At first floor, the door to the hall chamber has a moulded frame, and the fireplace features granite Doric columns, corbels and an overmantel, with the ceiling probably lowered. The roof is a 20th-century reconstruction. The stack to the left has weatherings under the roof-line, as on the rear lateral stack, making it unlikely that a former third storey existed.

Collacombe Manor was the home of the Tremayne family, as evidenced by the coat of arms over the hall fireplace.