MSO10565 - Nos 1 and 2, Knap Cottage, Luccombe (Building)

A late medieval former open hall house with a surviving smoke-blackened roof truss. The building was thought to be a farmhouse and has now been split into two cottages. An addition dates to the 17th Century, with doorframe and fireplace.

Farmhouse now 2 cottages. Late C16-early C17, altered mid C19. Red sandstone random rubble, double Roman tiled roof, external stack right gable end, large lateral stacks on rear elevation, rear end right with bread oven projection. Plan: probably 3 cell and cross passage, set into hillside, gable end to road. One and a half storeys, 2:1 bays, C19 2 and 3-light casements, first floor dormer rising from below eaves, roof extended to porch unlit on upper storey, ground floor left one window left and two right of window in weatherboarded, double Roman tiled bay, another casement right of porch, plank door; windows in end bay right have astragal leading. Interior not sighted. The two lateral stacks at rear may be result of restricted site. [1] English Heritage Listed Building Number: 265335. First Listed on 05/06/1985. [2] 3-cell Cross passage plan. Stone, Random rubble walls. Gabled roof [3] The building was surveyed by the National Trust in 1992. The original building dates from the late 15th Century as a three room cross-passage open hall house with a surviving smoke-blackened truss closed with similarly stained daub and a jettied solar over the parlour. In the late 16th or early 17th Century the chimney stack was built on the rear of the hall and a stair turret added to the front, with the hall and lower room ceiled over. At this time, or later, a two storey extension was added to the east end, containing a rear chimney and possibly oven. The house was subject to further alterations, particularly in the late 18th or early 19th Century when the west wall appears to have collapsed necessitating some rebuilding, and it seems the house was subdivided into two at this stage. [4] At the northern edge of the village, part of nos. 1 & 2 Knapp Cottages have been shown to be a late medieval former open hall house with a surviving smoke-blackened roof truss. Thought to be a former farmhouse, the present cottages are set laterally into the slope. There was a 17th century addition (no.2) with surviving door-frame and fireplace. The plank doors and casement windows are probably early-mid 19th century, several with decorative leaded glazing. The double-Roman tiled roof, probably replacing thatch, with first floor dormer windows rises through the eaves, and a combination of exposed red sandstone, and limewashed render echoes most of the other Holnicote estate cottages. [5] The buildings were visited in May 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. They received a BAR score of 6. [6] The building is shown as subdivided into two parts on the 2020 MasterMap data and is labelled "Knap Cottage". [7] The buildings are mentioned in the 2018 Conservation Area Appraisal for Luccombe. [8] The building was assessed as part of the 2018-19 rapid condition survey of Exmoor’s Listed Buildings, receiving a BAR score of 6. [9]