MEM23977 - Luccombe (Place)

The historic core of the village has been mapped using historic mapping available to the HER. [1-4] Domesday records that the manor of Locumba (Luccombe) was held by Queen Edith at the time of King Edward and it was then held by Ralph (de Limesi), one of the companions of William the Conqueror at the Norman invasion. The Barony of de Limesi was later divided and Luccombe came into the possession of Henry de Pynkeny. It was administered by the de Lucumes from as early as 1200 (if not earlier) until it was passed to the St John family in 1333, before passing to the Arundells in c.1477, then the Wentworths, from whom it passed to the Aclands in 1802, when it was received by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, the 7th Baronet, under the conditions of the will of William Wentworth. Their estate was passed to the National Trust in 1944 and the latter own nearly all of the village as part of the Holnicote Estate. [5] Further information on the settlement is given in the 2003 and 2018 Conservation Area Appraisals. The Conservation Area encompasses the historic core of the village that forms part of the Holnicote Estate, made over to the National Trust in 1944. The village is notable for its collection of traditional Exmoor cottages in the local vernacular style, many of which have cream or yellow coloured limewash and thatched roofs. The National Trust Vernacular Buildings Survey carried out in the 1990s demonstrated that a good proportion of these originated in the late middle ages as farmhouses. Other notable buildings are the 13th century parish church, the manor house at Wychanger and the substantial former rectory behind high garden walls. There are also examples of late 19th century estate architecture dating from Sir Thomas Dyke Acland’s ownership of the estate, at the former school (now village hall) and Glebe cottage/ School House. In the 2018 Appraisal, it was suggested that the boundary be altered to include the former school garden, and to exclude the field south of Luccombe Knapp.[6,7] In 2024, geophysical survey was undertaken in pasture fields on the southern edge of the village. The survey revealed a series of linear ditch and/or bank features associated with phases of the historic and existing field system and earlier medieval settlement. There is a suggestion that some of these features may reflect "former house/garden platforms associated with former extended medieval or post medieval roadside settlement at Luccombe." [9]