Higher West Coombe Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It dates from around the early 16th century, with alterations likely occurring in the 18th century. The walls are constructed of granite, with large ashlar blocks extending approximately halfway along the front, transitioning to rubble, and lightly rendered. One granite axial stack features drip-moulds and a granite capping. The roof is corrugated iron and hipped at both ends. The plan is unusual; the right-hand side is a long shippon divided into two parts, with a central hall containing a fireplace and a small, unheated room beyond. A single-storey modern extension was added in the 20th century to the left end. The original plan is unclear, and the change to rubble stonework suggests a partial rebuilding, with the possibility that part of the original house at the left end has disappeared. Original roof trusses remain over the house section and a section of the shippon, and smoke-blackening indicates the house was formerly open to the roof as far as this point. The house is two storeys high and has an asymmetrical front with a single window. A 2-light, 20th-century casement without glazing bars is located to the right of the house section on both the ground and first floors. A flat-roofed, 20th-century concrete block porch with a glazed door is positioned to the left. The shippon section has two doors at the centre and on the left, with an inserted 20th-century window to the right. An opening for a drain is visible in the end wall at ground level. An inspection by Michael Laithwaite revealed that the hall has a cross beam with slots for studs at its shippon end, which is underbuilt by a stone wall. Above the small room is a jointed cruck (morticed), while above the hall is a true cruck heavily blackened by smoke. A further true cruck, lightly blackened and cut off, is located above the shippon, and shortly before the partition to the adjoining section of the shippon, there is a similar intact truss, considerably blackened.