Description

STOKE FLEMING
SX84NW Great Combe
5/128
26.1.67 II

House, formerly a farmhouse. Circa C17, possibly with earlier origins,
partly rebuilt in C18, extended in C18 or C19 and extended again in 1987.
Local slate rubble with dressed slate quoins. Asbestos slate roof with
gabled ends. The left hand (north) wing with a hipped roof is being
reroofed at the time of this survey (1987). Right hand gable end stack with
short C19 brick shaft and projecting rear lateral stack with rebuilt shaft.
Plan: The existing house has 2-room and through passage plan and faces west,
the large hall to the left is heated from a lateral stack at the back, the
lower end to the right (south) has a cellar below; the passage has a 2-
storey porch at the front and at the higher left end projecting at the back
there is an outbuilding cross-wing which might have been part of the house
originally but which has a higher floor level. There is an outshut behind
the lower end and a large late C20 addition behind the hall in the angle
with the outbuilding cross-wing. This house is largely the result of an
early C17 remodelling and the large hall might be on the site of an earlier
open hall the floor of which would have been lowered when the hall was
putatively ceiled in the early C17. The outbuilding, probably a higher
cross-wing, has a floor level of about .75 metre higher than that of the
hall and the remains of what might have been a stair turret at the back.
The lower end seems to have been rebuilt, probably in the C18, when a cellar
was excavated below and under the passage. The house was probably
refenestrated at this time. The rear outshut was probably a Cl9 addition.
At the time of the survey 1987) the house was being restored and a large
extension was being built behind the hall, possibly on the site of a
bakehouse or detached kitchen range since the remains of a stack and hearth
were found during the construction.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window west front with a gabled 2-
storey porch to the right of centre. All the windows are C20 sashes with
glazing bars probably replacing earlier sashes. The 2 left hand windows on
both floors are in the larger circa early C17 window openings which have
been reduced but the 2 ground floor windows retain their hoodmoulds and the
ground floor left hand window its early C17 cyma-moulded timber lintel with
bar stops. The porch has a fine champered round-arch with dressed slate
voussoirs and a C20 outer door. The porch chamber window above is a C20
sash and above the gable has been rebuilt in rendered brick. The inner
doorway of the porch has a fine timber door-frame with an ovolo and cyma
mounding with fillets and large carved vase-shape stops with fleurons above
within a strapwork frame. The early C17 door has 16 panels and moulded and
studded cover-moulds and large wrought-iron hinges. The doorway has a cyma
moulded timber lintel with bar stops, identical to the passage rear doorway
which is now within a later outshut at the back.
At the left hand end an outbuilding with a cart entrance on the ground floor
and a loft opening above.
Rear elevation: To the right and centre there is a large parallel range, in
the course of construction (1987), of concrete blocks faced in stone rubble
and with a parallel gable-ended roof. To the left at the back a single
storey outshut above which there are 2 window openings. At the right hand
end of the back the rear end of the outbuilding has a window slit in the
former stair turret.
Across the lower south end of the house there is a long outshut on the lower
ground level and a round-headed window in the apex of the gable.
Interior: The passage partitions have been replaced recently and the lower
right hand partition moved to widen the passage. The right hand lower end
room at the ground floor is featureless.
The large hall to the right of the passage has a fine late C16 or early C17
moulded plaster ceiling with moulded single ribs in ogee patterns terminat-
ing in floral scrolls with animal heads. Part of the plaster ceiling at the
centre and some of the ovolo-moulded cornice is missing and only a section
of the frieze moulding at the higher end and another section to the right of
the fireplace on the rear wall survives. The fireplace overmantel is later
than the ceiling and dated 1640; it displays the large Royal Arms of
Charles I, flanked by a rose on one side and thistle on the other, over
which there is a crown. Part of the fireplace lintel survives and has a
cyma and fillet moulding with bar stops. The wide fireplace was probably
reduced in width when the overmantel was installed in 1640.
The chamber over the hall was formerly 2 rooms since there are 2 fire-
places. The fireplace in the lateral stack at the back has dressed slate
jambs and a renewed lintel. The other fireplace in the higher end wall has
dressed slate jambs and a cyma moulded timber lintel with bar stops. The
circa late C16 or early C17 moulded plaster overmantel above has a rather
grotesque bust of Medusa in a strapwork frame flushed by scrolls with bird
masks at the top and animals (lions ?) at the bottom holding sprigs of
flowers. To the right and left there are figures of Adam and Eve standing
behind lilies. Above the lintel there is a moulded plaster frieze of ara-
besques and moulded cornices. The hall chamber ceiling has been replaced
but some moulded plasterwork survives on the feet of two trusses at the
front. This plasterwork is on the soffit or face of the trusses in the form
of fleurons and chevron patterns.
The roof has been replaced but the foot of a truss is exposed at the front
and another truss over the hall-passage partition shows the structure had
straight principal rafters with curved braces resting on wall plates, pre-
sumably designed for a vaulted plaster ceiling.
The chamber over the lower end is featureless except for a small fireplace
with a brick arch in the gable end wall.
The outbuilding cross-wing at the higher end has what appears to be the
remains of a stair turrett in the rear right hand corner and a small moulded
timber bracket high up in the partition wall with the hall The outbuilding
has pegged scissor-braced trusses, probably C18 or early C19.

Listing NGR: SX8409248793

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26401775

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)