Description

SS 72 SE
6/36

BISHOP'S NYMPTON
AVERCOMBE
East Avercombe Farmhouse

GV
II

Farmhouse. Circa mid C17, re-roofed and modernised in the circa mid/late C19.
Whitewashed rendered stone, the rear right wing partly cob (information from owner);
slate roof, gabled at ends with 3 gables to the front; end stacks, the left end stack
with a stone shaft, projecting front lateral stack with a stone and brick shaft.
Plan: Overall L plan, the north-facing main range 3 room and cross passage on plan,
lower end to the right, presumably serving as the kitchen (bread oven to stack). In
the C19 the house was re-roofed, re-windowed and partly remodelled with a straight
run stair added in a lean-to behind the centre room, parallel to the south wall, with
access from the rear of the passage. The rear right dairy wing, now used as a
kitchen, at right angles to the lower end, may also be C19 and appears to have linked
the main range to an earlier, possibly C18 cob agricultural building which was
adapted as a wash-house and back kitchen.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front with 3 gables to the front, all
with C19 bargeboards of different designs. The projecting stack is flanked by a hall
bay to the left and a lean-to porch to the right to the through passage with a plank
front door with a C19 glazed overlight and glazed panels to left and right. Set of
probably late C19 paired 2-pane sash windows. The stair window, in the left end of
the rear stair projection, is an attractive C19 cast iron fixed window with Gothic
quatrefoils and some stained glass.
Interior: The C17 hall has 2 good richly-moulded C17 stopped crossbeams and an open
fireplace with a chamfered scroll stopped lintel. The inner room has a possibly C20
girder or beam, axially placed and boxed-in. The lower end room has a plain
crossbeam; the fireplace is blocked but may retain a C17 lintel and is said to have a
bread oven.
Roof: Apex not seen at time of survey but said to be C19 over the main range (South
Molton archive). The roof of the former wash-house and back kitchen is probably
early C19.
An attractive combination of C17 origins and C19 refashioning. Record of house in
the South Molton Archive, Soutl Molton Library.

Listing NGR: SS7665423218

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26456352

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)