Coombe Farmhouse

Coombe Farmhouse is a farmhouse with a history spanning the 17th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The core of the building dates to 1640 and 1664, as indicated by reset datestones in the porch, with significant remodelling and enlargement in 1848 (also marked by a datestone), and further alterations in the late 20th century. It is constructed from coursed sandstone rubble, and has a bitumen-covered gable-ended slate roof.

The original plan was a two-room layout from the mid-17th century, incorporating a hall to the left and a central stone stack likely backing onto a former cross-passage. A lower room to the north was either demolished or rebuilt. The 19th-century remodelling involved substantial outer wall rebuilding, adding two square bays to the front and raising the eaves. A staircase was inserted in the cross-passage, a porch was added to the west front, and an external stone stack was added to the rear of the right-hand room. Further additions of the same date include a wing to the rear of the hall with another external stone stack, and a former shippon (animal shelter) set back to the left, later converted to domestic use in the late 20th century, with a two-storey appearance.

The west-facing front presents a symmetrical three-bay appearance. A large, probably 19th-century gable features a reset millstone at its apex, flanked by full-height square bays with catslide roofs and gabled dormers. The windows are largely 20th-century metal casements set in 19th-century openings, with dressed stone flat arches above. The central entrance features a 19th-century nail-studded stone door with a pegged frame and a Tudor-arched head. The gabled porch has a plinth and a round archway with dressed voussoirs; the porch gable includes a reset millstone and a raised stone shield dated 1848. A reset inscribed stone dated 1640 is found on the left-hand jamb. The former shippon has various 20th-century windows and a boarded door.

Inside, the hall retains four deep-chamfered cross beams with scroll stops, and a blocked fireplace. A stone staircase is located in what was probably the former cross-passage. The right-hand room contains a 19th-century brick-arched fireplace. The roof space has not been inspected.

Historically, the farmhouse was built into a hillside at the rear, which was partly excavated in the late 20th century. It was formerly part of the Glenthorne estate, and the 19th-century alterations were likely part of improvements made to the estate’s farms.