Description

ST42NW ALLER CP COMBE LANE (South Side)
COMBE

5/11 Combe Farmhouse

-
- II

Former farmhouse. C17 with C18 and C20 additions.

MATERIALS: Built of coursed and cut local Blue lias stone with mostly of coursed, dressed lias stone with Hamstone dressings; the rear wing is brick. There are coped gables to the roof which is covered with tile but was previously thatched, and brick gable end stacks which have been rebuilt.

PLAN: Two storey house with attics that comprises a cross passage, two room range with a later rear wing that was formerly a dairy and now has a garage to the ground floor and accommodation above. At the west end of the main range is a single storey structure which, together with a further stone-built structure at the north west corner of the building, has been incorporated into the house. Both were once probably outbuildings. A C20 extension has been added along the west and north west sides of the house which is not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: The principal (south) elevation is of three bays. It has hollow chamfered mullioned windows of four-lights with rectangular leaded panes to both floors and a central entrance with flat-headed surround with rounded corners. This has a flat-moulded stone hood supported on console brackets. There is a continuous string course above the ground floor windows running into the porch hood. There are two late-C20 dormer windows in the roof. To the far left is the lean-to structure which may represent the surviving portion of an earlier house and the C20 addition. The rear elevation has a timber square-headed doorframe and a timber three-light transomed window to the first floor.

INTERIOR: The principal range is divided across the centre by the cross passage which has two axial ceiling beams. It retains two heavy plank doors to either end. To the right of the passage is a large room which has an open fireplace with a Hamstone surround with moulded jambs, possibly re-used from an earlier building. The room to the left has a large open hearth with a chamfered bressumer and a chamfered ceiling beam rounded step and runout stops. A late-C20 staircase leads from this room to the first floor. Beyond the left hand room is the kitchen. It has a framed ceiling of substantial deeply chamfered beams. It is unclear whether these timbers have been re-used here or whether this lean-to structure represents the remains of an earlier house. Two of the first floor bedrooms retain small fireplaces with Hamstone surrounds which rest on brick jambs; both of which may be later additions. The roof structure probably dates from the late-C18 or early-C19 and comprises collared trusses with tie beams and threaded purlins; some of the rafters have been renewed.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: There is a stone-built outbuilding, possibly a stable block, to the west of the house which retains historic fabric. It has a central stable door flanked by single-light openings.

HISTORY: Documentary sources suggest that a house on the site was occupied by a Robert le Combe in 1322, and in 1665 Combe Farm was recorded as being the biggest tenement in Aller, except for the Manor House.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
Combe Farm is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* As a largely intact C17 cross passage house with some earlier fabric and a rear wing added in the C18
* The historic plan form remains clearly readable.
* It preserves a significant proportion of historic fabric in a range of local vernacular building materials

SOURCES: E. H. D. Williams, `Combe Farmhouse (sic), Aller' (1980) Somerset Vernacular Buildings Research Group

Listing NGR: ST4146528159

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26629630

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)