Shady Coombe

Shady Coombe is a pair of cottages dating from around the late 16th century, with significant alterations and extensions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The construction is of granite rubble with a gabled slate roof. There is an original axial rubble stack with stone dripmoulds located to the left of the centre, and a later axial rubble stack towards the right-hand end. The original plan is now obscure due to these later changes. The two left-hand rooms, now forming one of the cottages, likely represent the core of the original house. This room is heated by an axial stack and features a newel stair at the rear; it may originally have been divided from the room to its right by a passage. An unusual feature is the presence of two adjoining granite arched doorways on the front wall, leading into these rooms, although the left-hand one is now blocked, and likely represents a reused doorway originally from the rear of that passage. In the 19th century, these rooms were likely divided into two cottages, with an additional doorway inserted into the left-hand room. Around this time, the building was extended to the right by a heated room forming part of the second cottage. A further extension was added at the right-hand end in the late 19th century, with a 20th-century wing added to the rear. Currently, the cottages are divided into two separate dwellings, with the left-hand cottage encompassing the original two rooms.

The exterior displays an asymmetrical seven-window front – four windows to the left-hand cottage and three to the right. Most of the first-floor windows are 20th-century casements with glazing bars, although the two right-hand windows have two lights each, with the end one being late 20th century. A small, original window sits on the far left, set within a chamfered granite frame. The ground floor features a 2-light chamfered granite mullion window, from which the mullion has been removed, and a similar window at the centre. To the left of the central window is a 19th-century casement. The right-hand cottage has two single-light 20th-century casements to the left and a three-light 20th-century casement with small panes to the right. A 20th-century lean-to glazed porch is attached to the right-hand end. The left-hand cottage has three doorways. The leftmost is a 19th-century insertion with a plank door and slate slab doorhood. Two chamfered granite 4-centred arched doorways adjoin in the centre; the right-hand one has a 20th-century plank door, and the left-hand doorway is blocked, with a 20th-century casement inserted. A 19th-century outshut is found at the centre, and retains a stair projection with a granite-framed light. Internally, the left-hand room exhibits closely spaced, fairly insubstantial cross beams, chamfered with hollow stop steps. The fireplace has a rough granite slab lintel. A stone newel stair leads to the rear with slate treads. Roof trusses have not been inspected, but local planning officers report they are not original.