MEM22244 - Milbanke and Wentworth, Ashley Combe (Building)

The cottages originated as the stables for Ashley Combe house. The building was recorded as a coach house with stables and garage in 1959, when a planning application was submitted to convert the building into a pair of cottages.

An L shaped structure is shown on the Tithe Map for Porlock at SS 8581 4825. It is grouped with an adjoining land parcel labelled 1031, which the accompanying Apportionment describes as a "Stable and Garden", owned by The Right Honourable Earl of Lovelace. [1] The building is again shown on the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, with some small additions to the floorplan. It is unlabelled. A small square outbuilding is shown to the south at SS 8582 4822. [2] The layout of the property is similarly shown on the 25 inch 2nd Edition map. A further outbuilding is shown at SS 8583 4825. [3] The 2021 MasterMap data shows the building as a semidetached pair of domestic properties with an irregular floorplan. The northern structure is labelled Wentworth and the southern structure is labelled Milbanke. [4] A planning application dating to 1959 records the conversion of the "Coach House & Stable Block". The application aimed "to improve the existing cottage" (labelled as the southern section of the property) and to "alter the stables & garage to form another cottage" (northern part). The agent was William R Brown, a builder based in Porlock, acting on behalf of the Rt. Hon. Earl of Lytton OBE. [5] A Conservation Area Appraisal dating from 2004 states the property is a pair of estate cottages of the Worthy Estate dating from the early 20th Century. However, it is clear from the above cited evidence ([1-5]) that this is not the case. [6,7] Milbanke and Wentworth are mentioned in the 2019 Conservation Area Appraisal for Porlock Weir. [8]