Listed Building record MDO10765 - Court Farmhouse, Corscombe Court, Corscombe

A farmhouse which was a former monastic grange of Sherborne Abbey. The building contains c 14th century walls and porch in the north range, with 17th century re-modelling and an 18th century south wing. It is built of rubble-stone with stone quoins and an asbestos and slate roof. The west elevation of the north range is 2 storeys high with attics and the south elevation of the south range is 2 storeys, built of plinth and rubble walls with ashlar quoins. On the inside, the north range has heavy sawn ceiling beams of which one is incised with 1780, a 17th century fireplace with bread oven and flagstone floor in the room behind the porch.

Corscombe Court consists of house, barn and moat. The late 13th century to early 14th century house is a rubble-walled two storey building with stone slate roofs. Formerly the grange of Sherborne Abbey, it now forms the north wing of the building and contains an original lancet window, now blocked. It was remodelled in the 17th century. It also has a modern addition to the north. The south cross wing is early 18th century with a stone mullioned three-light window. Grade 2. The barn is 15th century with buttressed rubble walls and a S porch. The moat which formerly surrounded the house is largely filled in on the S side. <2>

Now known as Corscombe Court; it is an outstanding group. The moat encloses a level platform, 66.0m E to W by about 75 m N to S and 0.5 ha, up to about 0.4m above the surrounding ground. The original causeway is central to the S arm, which is partly filled to the E and dry to the W. The water-filled W, N and E arms are on average 8.0m wide and fed, by means of a short culvet in the SW angle, from the adjacent stream. The water level, on average 0.7 below platform, is controlled by two sluices on the N arm. 1:2500 surveyed revised on PFD. <4>

(Description of the moated site as Auths 2 & 5). No surrounding earthworks or fishponds were apparent and the Tithe Map (1840) does not indicate their existence. But there is a possibility that they may have been destroyed by ploughing to the west of the site and by tennis courts and landscaping to the north. <5>

The Corscombe Court group remains as described. North of the swimming pool and tennis court, a low bank aligned WSW - ENE is evident. This feature, 8m wide and 0.5 m high, extends on the east from the modern road for a distance of circa 42m. Eight metres beyond its west end there is a raised scarp aligned roughly north - south running into the arable north of the moat. This terraced feature with an east facing slope is about 5m wide and 0.6m high. At its north end it turns to the east and is truncated by the modern road. It may have defined a formal garden feature or a large shallow pond. A more extensive and precise survey of the earthwork remains is intended. Resurveyed at 1:1000, revised at 1:2500. <6>

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1923-33, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch three, 1929 (Map). SDO11595.

Corscombe Court on site of (NAT) Abbey Grange (NR) Moat (NR) Tithe Barn (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 106-7 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(4) CORSCOMBE COURT, house, barn and moat, 730 yards N.N.E. of the church. The House is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are covered with stone slates. It was formerly a grange of Sherborne Abbey and the N. wing retains the external walls of a late 13th or early 14th-century building with a porch on the W. side. This wing was remodelled internally in the 17th century and c. 1700 the cross-wing was added at the S. end. There is a modern addition at the N. end. The S. front of the cross-wing has three-light stone windows with labels; set in the wall is a mediæval head-corbel. The chimney at the W. end of this wing was added in 1775. The N. wing has an original lancet-window, now blocked, in the N. wall. In the W. wall is an original doorway with chamfered jambs and two-centred head. The porch has an original outer doorway with double chamfered jambs, two-centred arch and moulded label. The roof of the N. wing is of five bays and is partly of mediæval construction, with braces forming four-centred arches under the collar-beams and curved wind-braces. The roof of the porchwing is of similar character. This wing has some exposed ceiling-beams and a fireplace with a cambered lintel.’
The Barn, N.W. of the house, is of the 15th century with buttressed rubble walls and a S. porch with diagonal buttresses. The porch has a segmental-headed and much altered outer archway; in the E. wall is a doorway with a four-centred head.
The Moat formerly surrounded the house, but the S. side has been largely filled in.’

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

Court Farm and remains of (NAT) Abbey Grange (NR)

<4> Chaplin, C P, Various, Field Investigators Comments CC, F1 CC 28-MAR-77 (Unpublished document). SWX3450.

<5> Upton, K L, 1978, The Moated Sites of Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO14051.

<6> McOmish, D S, Various, Field Investigators Comments DSM, F2 DSM 01-MAY-87 (Unpublished document). SDO16333.

<7> Department of the Environment, Inspector of Ancient Monuments (IAM) Record Form, 1978 83 Record Form & Map (Scheduling record). SDO17470.

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 832754 Corscombe/ink survey (Index). SDO14738.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF0832752 RCHME: Corscombe, Dorset (Index). SDO14738.

The medieval grange and tithe barn were surveyed by RCHME Salisbury in 1986.Contents : PlanCondition : INTACT

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS71/F4/2 HOUSE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST (Index). SDO14738.

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS71/F4/3 TITHE BARN FROM THE SOUTH-15TH C. WITH BUTTRESSED RUBBLE WALLS (Index). SDO14738.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 195740 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 1 2022 9:53AM