Crowcombe Court And Attached Stables To West

Crowcombe Court is a country house with attached stables, built between 1724 and 1739, with alterations around 1870. The initial design was by Thomas Parker, completed by Nathaniel Ireson of Wincanton, and later altered by E.M. Barry. It is constructed of brick with Ham stone dressings and has an ashlar plinth, a hipped slate roof concealed behind a parapet, and 19th-century terracotta chimney pots. The central three-bay section projects slightly, featuring a dentil cornice and giant pilasters with composite capitals, a strongly moulded cornice, and quoin strips to the outer bays.

The house follows a double-pile plan facing south, with a projecting wing in the southwest corner and long stable blocks flanking the west front. The main building has an attic and two storeys over a basement, and is arranged with a 1:2:3:2 bay facade. The attic features 12-pane sash windows in moulded surrounds, a Venetian window centrally, while the first floor has 12-pane sash windows similarly framed with keystones, the central window featuring ornamental volutes. The ground floor has late 19th-century sash windows without glazing bars, blind boxes, moulded surrounds with lintels, and a semi-circular headed entrance. The central entrance is topped by a swan-neck pediment resting on console brackets, leading to double-glazed doors approached by a flight of steps with bulbous newels and ball finials. The right return comprises five bays with Ireson’s distinctive volute capitals. To the left is a projecting, pedimented wing of two storeys and three bays, featuring a moulded cornice, plain string course, composite pilaster strip, and quoins, with sash windows and a central Venetian window within a Gibbs surround; a three-bay arcade is located below, also with a Gibbs surround and vermiculated blocks to the central opening. The left return (west front) has five bays, with 12-pane sash windows, except for two sash windows without glazing bars on the first floor to the right, and an arcaded luggia below. This is linked to two-storey, three-bay quadrant wings with broken pedimented centres, connecting to long, symmetrical stable wings.

The right stable block has a hipped slate roof and a central lead roof cupola with a weathervane dated 1725. It is two-and-a-half storeys high with 11 bays, featuring five pedimented dormers and two 18-pane sash windows on the first floor to the left; the others are cruciform windows with leaded lights. A stable entrance is located in the fifth bay, while the outer bay on the right has double doors for a coach house. The left stable block is similar, incorporating a courtyard to the north.

The interior features fine Rococo plasterwork, particularly in the hall and on the staircase, which suffered fire damage in the mid-20th century. The staircase is a dog-leg design with twisted newels and cut strings, while a back staircase has elegant turned newels. A painted floor remains in the dining room, one of only two surviving examples in England (as documented by Comforth and Fowler), alongside 18th-century panelling. The East front rooms have late 19th-century decoration. An eclectic selection of Jacobean and other carved wood work was reset in the North quadrant wing, likely in the late 18th century, and a small amount of 18th-century flocked wallpaper is present in an upstairs bathroom.