Coombe Farmhouse And Adjoining Outbuildings To North-West And South-East

Farmhouse and adjoining outbuildings, Jacobstowe

A farmhouse with attached outbuildings, dating from the early to mid-17th century with extensions added in the 18th and late 19th centuries. The main structure is built of plastered cob, with the left-hand section of the front refaced in stone rubble and a stone rubble extension to the rear wing. The roof is thatched with gabled ends; the rear wing has a half-hipped end. The rear slopes of the main range roof and the roofs of the lower outbuildings to left and right are clad in corrugated iron.

The plan comprises a two-room main range representing the original early to mid-17th-century house. The larger right-hand room at the lower end served as the hall and kitchen, heated from a large gable end stack. The smaller left-hand room is unheated. Originally there was probably a cross- or through-passage between the two rooms, with the front doorway set in a slight projection. A porch, probably dating from the 18th century, has been added to this doorway. The lower right-hand side partition of the passage has been removed, a lobby has been formed inside the front doorway, and a straight staircase has been inserted at the back of the left-hand room. These alterations may date from the 18th century, when the unheated rear wing was probably built to the left of centre, or alternatively from the 19th century when the rear wing was extended at the back. The outbuildings at either end of the main range are probably 18th-century additions; the one to the left is single storey, while the outbuilding to the right has a loft above.

The exterior is two storeys with an almost symmetrical three-bay front and asymmetrical fenestration. The centre bay projects slightly and features a gabled half-dormer above with 19th-century or earlier shaped bargeboards. A 17th-century three-light first-floor window with an ovolo-moulded wooden frame and mullions is set in this bay. The central doorway in the projection has a 19th-century plank door and is sheltered by a circa 18th-century rendered gabled porch with a bench inside to the left. Other windows at the front are 19th-century casements with glazing bars: one and two-light examples on each floor to the left, and a three-light casement on the ground floor to the right. To the right of the front projection is what appears to be an oven.

The single-storey cob outbuilding to the left has a corrugated iron roof with a rebuilt concrete block gable end and a front doorway with an old plank door. The outbuilding to the right is single storey with a loft above, has a corrugated iron gable-ended roof, a ground floor doorway at the front with an old plank door, and a loft doorway above. The rear elevation features mostly late 19th and 20th-century casements. The rear wing to the right of centre has been extended in stone rubble and has a half-hipped thatched roof.

The interior was viewed only from the windows. The right-hand room contains a chamfered main cross-beam with step stops and a small axial beam, also with step stops, running from the cross-beam to the fireplace lintel, which itself has step stops. The large fireplace contains an oven. The chamfered half-beams at either end of the right-hand room appear to have similar stops. The smaller unheated left-hand room has a chamfered axial beam. The first floor was not inspected and the roof structure of the main range was not seen. The rear wing has straight principal rafters.