Combhill Farmhouse

Description

Farmhouse, probably originally a bastle house. C16 or early C17, the front wall partly rebuilt C18. Massive random rubble, the later rebuilding in coursed stone; Welsh slate roof. 2 storeys, 3 bays. C18 openings. Central C20 door in chamfered surround; small C19 wood porch. C20 windows in old openings with concrete sills. Gabled roof with flat coping and end stacks, the left one an C18 external stack possibly covering original byre doorway.
Blocked 1st-floor doorway on right return.
Walls c.4 ft. thick, slightly thinner on 1st floor.
C20 outshut to rear not of special interest. (Listed Building Report)

Possible bastle (Ryder 1990).
Combhill Farmhouse is an altered bastle. The main body of the house measures 14.2m by 6.55m externally; the south wall is 0.92m thick. The angle quoins are massive roughly shaped blocks and the walling is of heavy rubble; on the south the upper part of the wall has been rebuilt in squared and roughly tooled stone, probably in the early 19th century. The doorway, set centrally on the south, has a chamfered surround and may be original; the ground floor sash windows are enlargements of earlier openings, of which the chamfered jambs remain. The central section of the north wall is covered by a 20th century extension; to the west old masonry survives almost up to eaves level, but to the east, the upper third of the wall has been rebuilt. No old features are visible in either gable end; the west end has a recent added stack and the east end, within 19th century farmbuildings, is plastered (Ryder 1994-5). (Northumberland HER)