Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 10/10/2012

SS 54 NE
1/83
9.3.53

COMBE MARTIN
WEST CHALLACOMBE LANE
West Challacombe Manor

GV
II*

Small manor house, now farmhouse. C15, with C16 porch and probably C17
rear stair turret; C19 and rear lean-tos. Painted rendered stone
rubble and cob; C19 extensions of coursed rubble. Gabled slate roofs;
gabled pantile roof to west range, connected by cross wing to 2-storey
infill. Tall rear lateral hall stack, of unrendered stone rubble with
offsets. Stone rubble stack to left-hand side of cross wing and to
lean-to service range to right end. Axial stone rubble stack to range
extending to left-hand side of cross wing. Plan and Development: The
original 3-room cross-passage plan is that of a very high quality late
medieval hall house open to a remarkably fine C15 false hammer beam
roof, which is not smoke blackened suggesting that the rear lateral
stack is original. Through passage at west end is set against cross
wing, 2 storey with a 3-light trefoil-headed mullion window in the
solar rear wall; a first-floor round-headed doorway against the stack
and the rear mullion window suggest that the wing was 2 storeys
originally; divided into 2 rooms in early C19 on both floors,
including dairy on ground floor. The east gable wall of the hall is
disturbed, indicating that another wing stood at this end. C17 stair
turret leads from rear cross-passage opening to NE corner of wing.
The kitchen is now in east lean-to, using axial stack in the gable
wall, and from its north end a door leads into a dairy, possibly C18.
This is behind a probably C18 stair turret which led to a first-floor
chamber with a 1732 date plaque.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Overall 7-window range. 2-light stone-mullioned
porch window, above coat of arms-probably of John Prouz (or Prous) of
Chagford who inherited from his grandfather who died in 1548. The C15
cross-passage doorway has 2-centred ashlar arch with ogee and hollow
mouldings. Fine original plank door with heavily moulded cover strips
and a low set cross-piece forming four panels below; 2 richly carved
figures, one with female body and male head and one male, are set on
the central panels. Remaining fenestration C19. Hall to right has
two 16-panel sashes on each floor and 2-light casement at right end
over 6-paned window. Gable end of cross wing to west has 2-light
casement on each floor, 8 panes per light, with small weathered
datestone of 1703 between.

Plank door to single-storey short connecting passage. Two 16-pane
sashes over similar sash to left of twin 16-paned sashes extending to
left. Large double plank doors at left gable end.

Interior: Ground floor is mainly C19 in appearance, with C15 through-
passage openings surviving. The rear opening, approached by some
steps, is ashlar, chamfered and with a rebate for door. On the first
floor a plaster panel on the east gable wall has the date 1732, this
room was probably the first inserted into the open hall. The C15
wooden 3-light mullioned window in the rear room has cusped trefoil
heads and is not rebated for glazing. The first-floor passage is not
ceiled, the oak hall roof having 5 main trusses and 4 subsidiaries.
All the trusses are A-frames resting on false hammerbeams. The
intermediate trusses are moulded and the 5 main ones have applied
mouldings. The double ridge and the 3 tiers of purlins are also
moulded, forming squares which all have pairs of windbraces with a
foliated cusp on each. Archbracing, also moulded, runs from the
collars down onto the hammerbeams. The latter do not all survive, the
southern ones in the bedrooms having been removed. the substantial
wallplates also carry mouldings. A few rafters are original but most
are replacements, some being chestnut. There is evidence that the
roof was lined with lath and plaster behind the main structure, with
dramatic effect. The C15 false hammer-beam roof, an exceptionally
significant survival, may have ben built by the Orchard family, or be
connected with the marriage of Joan or Jane Orchard to John Prouz of
Chagford about 1475 (information supplied by Douglas Blackmore of
Combe Martin). This is a remarkably fine example of a small manor
house, little altered since the C19, and south-facing with a range of
outbuildings to the south (qv).

Listing NGR: SS5864747567

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532664

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

• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2