Description

YARNSCOMBE
SS 52 SE
4/259 Cogworthy
4.10.60
GV II

House. A thorough late C16/early C17 remodelling of an earlier house, C20
renovations and C20 rear stair wing. Cob on stone rubble, the cob rendered; C20
slate roof laid in diminishing courses (formerly thatched), half-hipped at the right end, gabled to the front (east) at the left; axial stack to left of centre and 2 rear lateral stacks to the main range, axial stack to the rear right wing.
Plan: The existing arrangement is an approximate L plan: a 3-room and through
passage main range, facing east, with a rear right wing at right angles. The house was originally larger, probably a double courtyard plan. The gatehouse of the front courtyard survives (qv separate listing) and a front left wing was demolished in the last 10 years, a store room at the left (south) end of the main range is all that remains of it. It is likely that there was a rear service yard. The main range has a 2 storey porch to the through passage to right of centre. The hall is heated by a rear lateral stack with a stair rising in an outshut off the rear wall. The inner room is heated from the axial stack at the junction with the store room, the lower end room was formerly heated by a right-end stack which has been replaced (probably in the early C19) by a rear lateral stack. The main range is likely to have originated as an open hall house with a lower end kitchen although this phase of the building is conjectural. The late C16/early C17 arrangement probably included a great chamber over the hall and passage (remains of plasterwork in the roofspace) with access from the hall via the stair in the outshut. The rear right kitchen wing is probably an addition of this date. It includes a kitchen and back kitchen, heated from back to back fireplaces in the axial stack and had a high quality chamber over the kitchen with decorated plasterwork and a garderobe. C20 alterations have involved the demolition of the front left wing (possibly semi-agricultural in function), the surviving store room given a gable to the front at the left (south) end; the addition of a C20 stair wing to the rear of the through passage, adjacent to
the rear right kitchen wing and the introduction of carpentry and joinery, some re-used from elsewhere, some copying original features.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 6 window front, gabled to the front at the left end with a 2-storey gabled porch to the through passage to right of centre with a moulded stone outer doorframe with some replacement. 2-,3- and 4-light timber casements with C20 square leaded panes, 2 of the ground floor windows (to the left of the porch and the window lighting the inner room) are C17 with chamfered mullions and replaced sills. The rear left first floor window is a re-sited C17 mullioned casement. C20 ovolo-moulded inner doorframe to the porch, copied from C17 doorframes in the house. Re-used C17 door. The porch has porch seats and restored plaster moulding.
Interior: The higher side partition of the passage is a fine oak screen with 2
original cambered doorframes. The screen, which is divided into large plain panels was evidently designed as a framework for more elaborate panelling. The hall has a repaired plaster cornice which extends to flank the plastered-over crossbeams, and an open fireplace. On the rear wall a good C17 ovolo-moulded doorframe with unusual stops leads into the stair outshut which contains with a small closet with a C17 doorframe (perhaps a buttery or wine store) under the stair which is made up of re-used C17 balusters, said to originate from a house in Plymouth. The inner room has a plastered-over ceiling beam and a C17 fireplace with dressed stone jambs and a chamfered stopped lintel. The lower end room is entered from the passage through a moulded, repaired doorframe. The room has a plastered-over axial beam and a small fireplace with a timber lintel on the rear wall. The late C20 stair wing incorporates a stair made up of re-used turned C17 newels and balusters. The C17 kitchen has a C17 doorframe, a chamfered, stopped crossbeam, exposed joists and a splendid C17 kitchen fireplace with a chamfered lintel that extends the whole width of the room. The fireplace is divided into 2 by a crosswall, the left hand opening possibly a smoking chamber. The division is marked by a stone crosswall, the lintel supported by a timber corbel. The main hearth has a C19 bread oven. The back kitchen has an open fireplace with a chamfered, stopped timber lintel. On the first floor there is an axial passage. Two C17 doorframes at the top of the hall stair lead into room over the inner room and the putative great chamber, one with an ovolo-
moulded frame. There is another chamfered doorframe to the room over the lower end, the frame chamfered on the room side, rather than the passage side. The room over the kitchen has a garde-robe with a cranked lintel, original door, and original timber seat, a small blocked window is splayed on the inside.
Roof: Thick crosswalls to the apex divide the inner and lower ends from the hall.
The truss over the inner end is an A frame with a mortised collar the principals with a thin chamfer below the collar, the collar also with a thin chamfer. There are 2 trusses over the hall, one matches the previously described truss, the other has a lap dovetailed collar. The remains of a plaster cornice survive in the roofspace and, on the higher side wall, the remains of decoration consisting of sprays of stylised flowers. Small iron hooks below the cornice may have been for hanging tapestries. The roof truss over the lower end has a mortised collar, the truss over the porch has a lap-dovetailed collar. Some original trenched purlins survive. A C20 roof structure has been added over the C17 trusses. The wing has 'A' frame trusses with lap dovetailed collars. The remains of a good C17 strapwork frieze remains in the roofspace over the room with a garderobe. The plasterline indicates that it originally had a cambered ceiling.
A good quality house wih interesting interior features.

Listing NGR: SS5500322915

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26493621

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

• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)