Burnicombe Farmhouse And Barn Adjoining At East

Burnicombe Farmhouse and Barn

This is a farmhouse with adjoining barn, of medieval origins dating from around the early 16th century, remodelled in the early 17th century with alterations in the 18th or 19th century. The building is constructed of rendered stone with a slate roof, gabled at the ends. It features a projecting stack at the left end and an axial stack with brick shafts, probably of 19th-century date, at the junction with the barn at the right end, which heated the barn. The barn itself has a corrugated iron roof, formerly thatched.

The building comprises a 3-room plan with a cross passage arrangement. The lower end to the right functions as a barn. The hall stack backs onto the passage, with a heated inner room featuring a winder stair adjacent to the stack. A 2-storey rear outshut is located at the higher end. The building was originally a late medieval open hall, possibly with a shippon at the lower end. The house was probably floored in the early 17th century when a granite hall stack was inserted. The inner room appears to have been refurbished as a parlour in the 18th century, and the higher end was re-roofed, likely during the 18th or 19th century, coinciding with the addition of the 2-storey rear outshut. The lower end was heated in the 19th century with a stack backing onto the passage and was used as a back kitchen.

Externally, the building is 2-storeys to the left with a lofted barn to the right, presenting an asymmetrical 3:1:1 window front. A 2-storey gabled porch serves the cross passage to the right of the main block, with the barn at the right end having a lower roofline. The porch features a 2-light 19th-century timber casement with glazing bars above a 19th-century plank front door. The house is fenestrated with similar small 3-light casements. A doorway leads into the lower end to the right of the porch, with one window to its right. The left return displays a projecting stack with a stair turret adjacent.

The interior remains largely unaltered since the 19th century. The rear of the hall stack, facing the passage, is constructed of granite ashlar with a hollow-chamfered cornice. The hall fireplace is partly blocked but retains a granite lintel and jambs. The hall has a chamfered stopped crossbeam and a plank and muntin screen at the higher end with an 18th-century door leading into the inner room, where the screen and crossbeam are plastered over. The inner room contains a moulded timber chimneypiece of the early 18th century. The lower end room features an inserted 19th-century stack backing onto the passage and a pitched stone floor, including the remains of a drain, with two low blocked windows in the right end wall.

The roof over the higher end is probably of early 19th-century date with pegged collar rafter trusses, presumably replacing the medieval roof structure. The lower end roof presents unusual features: the principals of the main truss have curved feet bedded into the walls below the level of the present 19th-century timber ceiling. Both the main truss and rafters are sooted, and the timber ceiling is smoke-blackened, though the carpentry detail of pegged collars abutting the principals seems very late for an open hall arrangement. It is unlikely that smoke leakage from the chimney alone could have blackened the roof timbers so thoroughly; the blackening may result from curing or smoking.

This is a very unaltered traditional house of medieval origins. A disused, part-floored thatched house of evidently medieval origins formerly stood in the farmyard and was demolished approximately 30 years ago.