Description
Two storey farmhouse, now two cottages, with two rooms in No 123 ( Horner Tea Gardens) and the cross-passage and two lower rooms in No 124 ( Beacon View). Reacombe ( 115,125), the cottage on the west end, was a barn, the front is stepped forward but the rear continues the line of No 124. Front lateral external stack with doorway in lean-to porch or advanced hall window, second hall window west of stack.
East gable with external axial stack and blocked ground floor window, lines of earlier lower verges can be seen.
Rear with two storey wing behind hall ( sitting room, No 123), rear lateral stack with probable oven ( sitting room, no 124) and internal northwest corner stack. Roof lower at east end, height changes over the jetty ( this is probably not connected but just happens) and is continuous over Beacon View. The rear wing roof is gable-ended but lower, it was half-hipped.
Four raked dormers in front pitch, three at west end and one in lower roof of east end. One raked dormer in rear pitch, lighting landing of Beacon View, and one in east side of wing.
No 123 has lean-to porch against rear wall, butting onto east wing wall. Lean-to, single storey, on rear of wing.
No 124 has two lean-tos on rear, one each side of stack.
Single storey gable-ended two cell building on west end of rear, south cell used by Beacon View, north cell used by Reacombe.
Roofs mainly of triple V tiles, with slate on front porch, east lean-to and west extension.
Rubble stone walls, fairly small, much waterworn, rebuilt or repointed wall at east end first floor, second first floor ( from east) window with opening narrowed. Front rendered and limewashed from stack to Reacombe's wall. Most cills concrete.
An early/ mid 16c three or four cell cross-passage house with open hall, the light smoke-blackening on the surviving jointed cruck truss suggests that the open hearth would only have been in use for 10 - 20 years. In the mid/ late 16c the jetty was formed as inner room ( tea room, No 123) ceiled over. The hall ( sitting room, No 123) was ceiled over in the late 16c, also one or two lower rooms. It is possible that in the early 17c the stairs were inserted in inner room ( tea room, No 123) where the part beam has early 17c scroll stops. Door frame in kitchen also of this date.
In the early 19c the building is listed as a farmhouse on the 1809-12 Holnicote Estate Survey, shown roughly as at present, so the four room plan definitely existed then. The leaded light windows and some of the doors in both cottages are either 18c or very early 19c but made in the 18c style which seems to fit the tenth baronet's very early work on the estate. Shown as two dwellings on the 1903 Somerset Sheet XXXIV.6, Scale 1:2,500.
Important Features:
External appearance with datestone 'T.B. 1800' on the front stack.
16c jointed cruck roof truss with some smoke-blackening ( No 123).
Mid 19c replacement roof structure.
Beams in tea room, sitting room and kitchen ( No 123) and sitting room and kitchen ( No 124).
Partitions between tea room and sitting room ( No 123), jetty partition, and division between first floors of No 123 and 124.
Quarry tile floor in tea room ( No 123).
Fireplaces in tea room, sitting room and bedroom E ( No 123) and sitting room, with oven ( No 124).
Plank doors, especially tea room, D1; sitting room, D2; kitchen, D2 ( No 123) and sitting room, D1, D2, D3; kitchen, D1 with frame and D2 and tack room.
Windows in tea room, sitting room, bedrooms E,F,G ( No 123) and sitting room, kitchen and tack room ( No 124).
Garden walls and cobbled path to cross-passage doorway ( No 124).
In a good state of repair.
Outbuildings:
Horner Tea Gardens:
Pigsty, now log shed: Gable-ended single storey two cell outbuilding set on north side of tailrace, which is culverted at this point. Roof of triple V tiles over rubble stone walls. On 1929 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.6, Scale 1:2,500, but not shown on 1903 2nd Edition. Two small yards in front confirm their original function as pigsties. The other unit is used by the tenant of No 124. Important feature: external appearance. In a fair state of repair, but the ivy on the roof should be killed and a few branches of trees cut back.
Freezer Shed: Shed with single pitch roof, extended at west end, opening at east end near west doorway from wing lean-to. Not on 1974 O.S. map. Felt roof over lapped board walls.
Workshop: Small gable-ended shed, not shown on 1974 O.S. map, set northwest of the wing lean-to, opening to the south. Felted roof over weatherboarded walls. In a good state of repair.
'The Little Shop': Single cell, gable ended shed facing east, set immediately north of the wing lean-to with a narrow passage between. Felted roof over weatherboard walls. On 1974 O.S. Map SS 8845-8945, Scale 1:2,500. In a good state of repair.
Lavatories: Three small sheds, 6a women's lavatory, 6b men's and 6c men's washroom. The latter are probably built onto the remnants of the old privy set over the leat. Felt roof over vertical board and concrete block walls. Not shown on the 1974 O.S. Map SS 8845-8945, Scale 1:2,500. In a fair state of repair.
Outdoor Shelter for Visitors: South-facing lean-to on rear fence, with roof sloping down to north, forming a small shelter for guests to the tea garden. Felt roof over horizontal board walls. Not shown on the 1903 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.6, but marked on the 1929 Revised 2nd Edition. Important feature: external appearance with rustic timbering. In a good state of repair.
Outdoor Shelter for Visitors B: Long lean-to on north fence of garden, affording shelter to visitors, not very attractive but redeemed in summer by climbing plants. Corrugated PVC roof over lapped boarding wall to rear, supported by metal tubing at the front. Shown on the 1974 O.S. Map SS 8845-8945, Scale 1:2,500, but not on the 1929 edition. In a fair state of repair.
Beacon View:
Pigsty, now Garden Store: On the 1929 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.6, Scale 1:2,500, but not shown on the 1903 Second Edition. One half of two cell pigsty, on the map they are shown with two small yards in front. Gable ended single storey rectangular building on north side of culverted tail-race from Horner Mill. Triple V tile roof with collared ridge tiles over rubble stone walls. Important feature: external appearance. In a fair state of repair, the vegetation on the roof should be killed and removed carefully when dead. A missing tile needs replacing.
Garden Shed: Rectangular shed leaning against fence between gardens of Nos 123 and 124, not on 1974 O.S. Map SS 8845-8945, Scale 1:2,500. Single pitch roof of corrugated iron over vertical planking walls. In a good state of repair. [1]
The cottages were recorded seperately as 115123 and 115124, as part of the Holnicote Estate Survey in 2001 and is described as:
No. 123. (Horner Tea Gardens): known as Horner Farm in the 19c, with site 115124 this is a large cross-passage house, originally open hall but probably not for all that long, as the one surviving jointed cruck is only lightly smoke blackened. Rubble stone walls and tiled roof replacing an earlier thatch covering, this cottage occupies the hall and inner room of the old farmhouse. There is a late 19c wing on the rear, with 20c additions behind that. Front external stack and advanced east window, this has been replaced by a door. The datestone in the chimney ‘TB 1800’ may record a rebuild of the stack, or a new tenancy. In the 1809-12 Holnicote Estate Survey the tenant is Giles Rendall.
No. 124 (Beacon View): the cross-passage and lower room of the large farmhouse discussed in site 115123, the second main room of this cottage may have been part of a four room cross-passage house. The roof structure has been replaced except for the jointed cruck and therefore the dating of the rooms is difficult. The west room has only a rough beam and may have been an unheated work area. The lower room has a rear external chimney and probably an oven on the east side, the fireplace is blocked. [2]