Description

DITTISHAM
SX85SW Little Coombe Farmhouse
10/260

II

Farmhouse. Circa mid C17 remodelling of an earlier house with circa early
C18 alterations and C19 additions. Roughcast slate rubble. Asbestos slate
roof with gable ends; lower roof to the lower let (east) end, hipped roof
to the stairtower on the north front. Left (east) gable end stack with
weathering and hand turned clay pot; truncated axial stack behind the
ridge; lateral stack to the rear (south) of the let hand end - all stacks
are of stone.
Plan: The existing plan is 3 rooms and a through passage, originally
facing south the lower end to the right (east) has a front lateral stack
and has probably been rebuilt; the hall has an axial stack at its lower
left end backing onto the putative passage; there is a wide 2-storey hall
bay at the front and a stair tower behind the hall, and an inner
room/parlour at the higher left (west) end. The hall bay is probably, part
of the mid C17 remodelling which may have involved the flooring of an open
hall. In circa early C18 a stair tower with a dog-leg staircase was built
behind the hall. Probably in the early C19 the lower right (east) end was
partly rebuilt probably as a farm building, but the section immediately to
the lower side of the passage was retained as a service room by the removal
of the passage partition. The outshut at the higher left (west) end is
probably a late C19 addition. In the C20 the house was reorientated, the
north side becoming the front and a single storey extension built on the
south of the lower east end.
Exterior: 2 storeys. North elevation is an asymmetrical 3-window range
with projecting stair tower to the right of centre, with an early C18 12-
pane sash with thick glazing bars. Similar early C18 sash on first floor
to the right. The first floor windows to the left are circa early C20 2-
light casements ground floor right a late C19 or early C20 2-light
casement. The putative through passage doorway to the left; garden door to
its right and another doorway to the right of stair tower all have C20
glazed doors. At the right end the outshut also has a C20 glazed door. At
the left end the lower roof section has a projecting front wall.
The south elevation is probably the original front and has a wide
projecting hall bay its gabled first floor was formerly jettied but has
beam built out further in the late C20 creating a deep jetty. The first
floor window in the jetty is a C20 casement, the ground floor of the hall
bay has late C19 or early C20 2 and 3-light casements. To the left on the
first floor an early C18 12-pane sash with thick glazing bars and a C20 2-
light casement below. To the right on the south elevation the lateral '
stack has been enclosed by the late C20 single storey, lean-to extension.
Interior: The hall has chamfered cross-beams which continue into the hall
bay, and at the opposite end one beam has a straight cut stop buried in the
wall plaster. The hall fireplace has been blocked and has a new granite
lintel. The doorway from the former passage into the hall has a chamfered
frame, its lintel replaced. The lower east end has rough cross-beams. The
inner room/parlour at the west end has no exposed ceiling beams and a
blocked fireplace. An early C18 dog-leg staircase in the stair tower has a
moulded string, thick balusters square newels and a heavy moulded thick
stick balusters square newels and a heavy moulded hand rail. On the first
floor there are some C18 2-panel doors and one fielded 6-panel door.
Roof: The main roof has straight principals with halved lapped and pegged
collars. The truss over the hall bay has mortices for threaded purlins and
halvings for a notched lapped collar which are missing.

Listing NGR: SX8488753871

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26610585

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

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)