Description

STOKE FLEMING
SX84NW West Combe Farm House
5/138
26.1.67
GV II

Farmhouse. Dated 1827, with initials N.B. (said to be Nicholas Browse).
Local slate rubble with rendered left hand (west) wall. Hipped scantle
slate roof with red clay ridge tiles. Large central lateral stack at the
front with chamfered corners and battlements corbelled out at the top of the
shaft. There is another stack on the left hand side of the house with a
rendered shaft.
Plan: An interesting early C19 derivative of the traditional hall and
passage plan but with a symmetrical facade.
The house, facing south, has a central 'hall ' with a front lateral stack
flanked by the 'lower' service end on the left and 'higher' end on the
right. The left hand service end has a scullery and back staircase at the
rear and a kitchen which projects in a canted bay. Behind the parlour a
small room now used as a dairy, to the left of which is the stairhall with a
passage to a doorway at the front between the parlour and central hall. To
give symmetry to the front of the house this principal entrance on the right
of centre is balanced by a doorway to the left of centre directly into the
'hall'. At the back there are doorways into the scullery and small cellars
under the stairs. The ground level of the farm yard at the back is lower
than the walled garden at the front.
Exterior: 2 storeys. 1:2:1 window south front, symmetrical but for the
left hand doorway being blocked. To the left and right the end bays project
with canted corners. All original 16-pane sashes in cambered arch opening
with slate cills, except for the first floor right hand window which has
a C20 4-pane sash in the original opening. Doorway to right of centre has a
cambered stone arch and original cambered-head 6-panel door with fielded
and flush panels. The doorway to left of centre is now a window with a 2-
light casement with glazing bars. On the inner returns of the projecting
end bays is the date 1827 recessed into the masonry and similarly inscribed
initials N.B. at the centre under the large lateral stack.
The left hand (west) return is blind except for a window on each floor at
the rear (left). The right hand (East) return has 2 C19 round-headed case-
ments on the first floor with intersecting glazing bars.
The rear (north) elevation is asymmetrical and some of the windows have been
blocked. A large C19 18-pane stair sash to the left of centre and a smaller
16-pane sash to its right. The other stair window to the right has been
blocked and a small early C19 fixed-light window with leaded panes inserted.
On the ground floor a C19 3-light casement to the right of centre and a 2-
light window to the right with perforated zinc ventilator and an early C19
flush panel door to the right. There are 2 other doorways to the left and
right of centre but both have been blocked; they originally gave access to
the cellars under the stairs; the cellar to the right has a small square
window with a lattice grille.
Interior is complete and unaltered and the plan is intact. The entrance
hall at the right hand (east) end has an open-well staircase at the back
with a scrolled open string, stick balusters and a moulded mahogany hand
rail ramped up to column newels. The entrance hall also has its original
early C19 6-panel doors in reeded doorframes. The front parlour to the left
has a large alcove with a mounded architrave and panelled cupboard doors and
window shutters but its chimneypiece is C20. The small room behind (rear
right) is now the dairy but it has a fireplace; there are large shelves on
the walls on shaped brackets, hooks on the ceiling, a circa early C19 corner
cupboard and a stone-flagged floor. The 'hall' has a C20 chimneypiece. The
front left hand room (kitchen) has a partly blocked fireplace with a large
chamfered timber lintel and shaped wooden coat-hooks below a row of small
cupboards. The scullery behind also has wooden coat-hooks. The small dog-
leg back staircase has stick balusters and another row of small cupboards to
the side with original drop handles. The first floor has a complete set of
6-paint doors and the two right hand rooms have C19 chimneypieces, the one
at the back is reeded.

Listing NGR: SX8424948589

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26457899

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6