Michelcombe Farmhouse

Michelcombe Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early 16th century. It is constructed of stone rubble, with some areas roughcast, and features a slate roof with both gabled and hipped ends. The layout consists of three rooms and a through passage, with a lateral rear hall stack and a lateral rear bitumen stack at the lower end, along with a stair turret beside the lower stack. The building may have originally had an open hall. A parlour wing has been added to the rear of the higher end, creating an L-shaped plan. An attached shippon at the lower end has been converted into a separate house and should not be confused with the lower room that is part of the original farmhouse.

The east lower end of the farmhouse is one storey and has an attic, while the rest of the structure is two storeys with heightened eaves. The façade features a long range of five windows, with 19th and 20th-century casements that include glazing bars. There is a through passage doorway located to the right of the centre, which has a plank door and a slated hood. The short gable-ended parlour wing at the rear left also contributes to the L-shaped plan and includes two large rear lateral stacks, one of which has a stair turret on the side, along with a lightly built lean-to outshut from the 20th century.

Inside, the farmhouse retains complete plank and muntin screens on both sides of the through passage, which are chamfered and feature diagonal steps. The hall side has a moulded head beam, while the bitumen side has a chamfered head beam. There is a similar screen in the inner room, which has higher diagonal steps for a bench and a chamfered head beam. The lateral hall fireplace has a chamfered timber lintel that is covered over, and the hall ceiling beam has been plastered. One of the front windows in the hall features an ovolo mould on the inner lintel. The chamfered ceiling beam in the inner room, now used as a kitchen, is also noteworthy.

The first-floor rooms were inspected, but the roof space was not accessible at the time of the survey in 1985. A closed truss over the inner room partition has a tie beam with a segmental arch cut out from the soffit for a door head. From the first-floor rooms, the roof structure appears to be intact, including threaded or trenched purlins, although the rafters and apex of the roof are ceiled.