Description
Pair of two storey reflected plan cottages with central range two cells deep, with single cell one each end, set so recessed from both front and rear elevations. Main range roof with gablet each end, lower roofs over side rooms gable ended. Central axial stack rectangular, set across the main ridge. Side of No 129 with first jetty and oriel window with topped roof. Small gabled porch over both front doors. Garden walls and paths contemporary with cottages. No 128 ( West Luccombe Farm Cottage): Single storey addition infilling part of angle between main range and end room, lean-to on side wall of main range, lean-to open porch over doorway. No 129 ( Honeysuckle Cottage): Single storey range of outbuildings on the side and rear elevations open onto a small yard, with the remaining outhouses set round it. A wide double pitched roof, butting onto the back of the house, covers domestic rooms on the south side of a central passage, and a carpenter's workshop, with loft in the roof space, on the north side. Double roman tile roof with matching ridge tiles. Gablets of main range hung with plain red tiles. Lean-to of No 128 and rear extension of No 129 tiled. Rubble stone walls with large, squared, mainly waterworn stone in quoins. Rubble smallish, fairly closely laid in broken course. Segmental stone arches over ground and first floor front openings with red and grey sandstone alternated in some. Wooden lintels in side and rear elevations, mainly red sandstone on side elevation of No 128, possibly taken up to two storeys later, with brick jambs to first floor window opening. Blocked doorway in rear walls of both cottages. No 128: lean-to, brick with possible remnant of set-pan copper flue in southeast corner. No 129: jetty on north gable supported on extended joists, oriel window on two curved brackets, hipped roof. Rear extension of rubble stone, smeared render, brick jambs to window openings, earlier brick jambs and quoin near house, visible from garden of No 128. Cottages built in the early 19c on west Luccombe Green with living room and back scullery, and room on north and south ends of two storey rectangle. Kingpost roof structure, hipped, it is not clear whether the thatch extended down each side over the end rooms, or wether the south side had a separate single pitch roof and the jetty and oriel window were earlier than the first floor room added to the south side. In the late 19c the second storey added to south side, landing formed ( No 128) from bedroom G to give access to new bedroom I. Bedroom J added to No 129 at this time if not already there. In the 20c the stairs in No 129 moved, back doorway blocked and door cut through window opening. New window inserted. During the 1960s the larder was formed in No 128 by blocking back doorway, access to rear of house through added lean-to room F. Important Features: External appearance with front porches, also jetty and oriel window on north elevation. Original early 19c kingpost roof structure. Open fireplaces ( both blocked) with ovens in both sitting rooms, fireplaces in No 129, sitting room and bedroom H. Plank and batten doors - a remarkable variety, particularly in No 129. Casement windows, especially 17c/18c light in No 129 bedroom I and oriel in bedroom J. Transverse beams ( 16c/17c) reused in both sitting rooms. In a good state of repair. Timber supporting apex of main roof of No 128 is set with only half its base resting on the stack, if it skewed it could come off. Outbuildings: West Luccombe Farm Cottage: Garage/ Store: Rectangular gable-ended garage with lean-to on west side. Garage doors advanced. Roof of tarred felt over walls of prefabricated boards. Not shown on 1974 O.S. Map SS 8846-8946, Scale 1:2,500, late 20c. In a good state of repair. Woodshed: Small single cell leaning on garden wall, ridge running east-west along the wall and door opening to south. Double roman tile roof over rubble stone walls with brick quoin. Probably not the small building shown on the 1903 map, but on the 1929 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.II.6, Scale 1:2,500. Important feature: external appearance. In a fair state of repair, ivy needs killing and then careful removal of the dead. Honeysuckle Cottage: Carpenter's Shop, now workshop/ store: The eastern end of this workshop, with the scullery and bathroom of the house, is under a wide gabled roof, but the western part is lean-to on the north wall of the cottage. Single storey with loft floor in southern half of building. Extension on east end ( Store) with lower part of north pitch of roof continued over it, south pitch two rows of tiles shorter. West entrance angled to northeast corner of wing. Roof of double roman tiles with plain ridge tiles. Waterworn rubble stone walls. Built with the cottages in the early 19c, recorded as a carpenter's shop on the 1842 Luccombe Tithe Map, when John Horn lived there, and again as a carpenter's shop on the 1876 Holnicote Estate Map, occupied by William Baker, carpenter. There was a sawpit between the yard and the river. Important features: external appearance and plan. In a fair state of repair. Store: Probably built at the same time as the Carpenter's Shop, single storey, on east end of Carpenter's Shop, with double- pitched roof, ridge lower than that of Shop, south pitch two rows of tiles shorter than north pitch. Roof of double roman tiles over rubble stone walls. Important features: external appearance, cobbled floor, planked loft floor and plank door. In a fair state of repair. Pigsties/ Stabling, now store: Lean-to on garden wall, two eastern cells with stone rubble side walls, western cell added later. Tile roof over rubble stone, weatherboarded and corrugated iron walls. Three-cell lean-to on garden wall, single pitch roof but forming ridge over garden wall where it meets the roof of Wood Shed, Cottage 128. Two eastern cells probably early 20c, on 1929 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.6, Scale 1:2,500. Western end added late 20c. Important features: external appearance and plank doors. In a fair state of repair, plants overgrowing east end need killing and then removing. Rooflight should be tiled over. Coal Shed/ Chicken House, now disused: Late 20c lean-to on garden wall. Roof of corrugated iron over weatherboard walls. Important feature: yard walls. In a fair state of repair. Potting Shed: Lean-to on yard wall, west of above, not shown on any map, late 20c. Corrugated p.v.c. roof over corrugated p.v.c. and vertical board walls. In a fair state of repair.
Privy, now disused: Lean-to on north side of yard wall, approached from garden. Roof of corrugated iron over rubble stone walls. In a poor state of repair.
Cobbled Yard and Walls: Probably provided with the cottage and carpenter's shop, which are on the 1842 Luccombe Tithe Map, early 19c. Important features: enclosing walls, cobbled surface with gulleys. In a fair state of repair. [1]
The cottages were recorded seperately as 115128 and 115129, as part of the Holnicote Estate Survey in 2001 and is described as:
No. 128 (West luccombe Farm Cottage): Southern cottage of an early 19c pair, built on West Luccombe Green by the Xth baronet, with thatched roof and rubble stone walls. The lean-to on the south wall of the main part of the cottages probably had the thatch coming straight down over it as a long hip. It was later raised to two storeys, the ridge line still lower than that of the central roof. One axial stack was shared by the cottages, the fireplaces are blocked but the oven bulge can be seen on the left (west) of the chimney.
No. 129 (Honeysuckle Cottage): the northern cottage of the pair described in site 115128. This cottage has an oriel window lighting the first floor of the north cell, which may be original, there is no visible evidence of the walls being raised. It looks very attractive as approached from the main road, another reason for thinking Sir Thomas may have had it built like that. Outbuilding 2 is very important on this site, it has been a carpenter’s workshop for many years, and was listed as such in the 1842 Luccombe Tithe Apportionment. [2]