MMO511 - Langcombe, a 19th Century deserted farmstead (Monument)

The remains of a farmstead with walls standing to a height of 1.5 metres in a courtyard formation, can be seen on aerial photographs surviving as ruined structures. The buildings were constructed in the mid to late 19th Century.

SS 8369 3012. Building remains suggesting a deserted farm site. Very good on 1977 aerial photograph. [1,2] The remains of a building at SS 8370 3015 and quarry to the west. Recorded as Lancombe in 1842 Molland Tithe Map and on 1887 6 inch Ordnance Survey map, and Landcombe on 1905 6 inch map. A beebole is in the side of a barn. [3-6] Deserted post-medieval farmstead of Landcombe centred at SS 8372 3013. "Langcumbe" is first mentioned in 1270. Various leases between 1663 and 1821 refer to it as a piece of land without settlement. It is shown on the Molland parish Tithe Map [3] as a large enclosure (not divided into fields) and with no buildings. The 1st Edition 2 inch mapping, however, depicts several structures and shows various fields adjoining the farmstead [7]. It would appear, therefore, that Landcombe was built in the mid 19th Century. The date of its desertion is unclear, but is within the first half of the 20th Century. The farmstead now consists of the remains of several buildings with walls standing to 1.5 metres in height. These are confused by later stone robbing and piles of rubble. Nevertheless the buildings form a courtyard arrangement with access being along a terraced way from the south. The whole farmstead corresponds precisely with that depicted in the late 19th Century. Water was supplied to the complex from a spring to the west, shown as an old quarry in 1890. Water still flows from here and reaches the farmyard by an underground pipe. For full description and landscape analysis of this site see Archive Account. [8] The ruined buildings at Landcombe can be seen on aerial photographs surviving as ruined structures centred on circa SS 8371 3012. As described by the above authorities the structures match those depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1890 [7], and they therefore have not been transcribed. The field boundaries adjoining the farmstead to the southeast have been removed since the 1940s. An earthwork bank defined track connects the farmstead with a large quarry and further levelled field boundaries to the west. [9-11] Bee bole structure at Landcombe Farm. Bees kept in skeps in a recess in an ash house wall. [12] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [13]