MEM22351 - Combe Park Hotel (Building)

Hotel in own grounds, formerly private house. c1840, with possible earlier origins. Rough rendered, tile roof including some fishtail. A compact wide-span block with triple-gabled entrance front and central staircase. Picturesque Tudor Gothic style. 2 storeys and attic; 4-window front. All windows are small-pane casements with pointed heads to the lights but under square heads; the top floor has a 3-light to each smaller side gable, and 1:3:1 lights to the wider central gable. At first floor are four 3-light, and ground floor has a deep 3-light to the left, and to the right a square bay with crenellated parapet and 1:5:1-lights to solid corners. Centred is a porch with haunched coped gable over a pointed arch with rough drip-mould; the porch cheeks have a small-paned lancet; inner panelled door. The gabled return to the right has two 3-light casements at each level, and the left gable is slate hung, with 4 casements. The rear has 2 small gables, and between these a deep stair window in 3 lights, and various casements; there is a large flat-roofed extension. The gables have plain barge-boards, and a small finial. There is a large external stack to the left, and a wide stack on the rear roof slope to the right. INTERIOR not inspected; damaged by fire in 1993/4, since restored with original joinery including doors retained. A very complete building in the Picturesque style. Purchased by the Revd WH Halliday in 1832, the first property to be added to the initial purchase of Glenthorne. Carries hallmarks of the Halliday estate, such as the triple gable entrance front and the central porch. Most of the rest of the buildings formerly belonging to this estate are in the Parish of Countisbury and include Watersmeet House. [1] The building was visited in September 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [2] The site is shown as a clear plot on the Ordnance Survey 1 inch drawing of 1804, although this may be due to the scale of the map involved. [3] The Tithe Map for Lynton and Lynmouth Parish depicts a roughly rectangular building at SS 7364 4755, within the same plot of land as MEM22353 in an apparent area of garden. These together are labelled 1312, which the accompanying Apportionment states is within "Coombe Park" and describes as "Dairy and ground adjoining", in use as gardens. It does not appear to be the building labelled "dairy" (which is perhaps MEM22353?), although this is not clear. The land is associated with a large house to the south (MEM) and is owned and occupied by the Reverend John James Scott. There is a note adjacent to the site that reads "Several alterations took place about this House during the time of Survey / marked on the ground + all right now." [4] By the time the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map had been surveyed, the building had undergone some demolition of peripheral features and alterations (including a new wing), becoming the main structure on the site. At this stage, it is labelled "Lower Combepark". [5] The layout shown on the 1st Edition map is repeated on the 2nd Edition map, when it is simply labelled "Combe Park". It is the same plan form as that shown on modern MasterMap data, where it is now labelled "Combe Park House". [6,7]