Buzzacott Manor Combe Martin

Modified on January 24, 2024

Paraphrased from statutory information

Buzzacott Manor is a Grade 2 listed building (Group Value 2), which means "it is of statutory special interest warranting every effort to preserve it". Statutory Address: Buzzacott Manor, Buzzacott Road, Combe Martin. Historic England and British Listed Buildings (the UK-wide database) are our authoritative sources.

Buzzacott's Georgian country hall is currently private property. There is a free PDF file on this page, which you are welcome to download from this secure platform. Please mention where you found the document.

Listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (as amended): Buzzacott Manor is just one of several historic landmarks in Combe Martin.

Deep dive into our history of Combe Martin ˃

Description of Buzzacott Manor

This large and imposing structure was central to the Buzzacott Manor estate until 1919. It is built of painted stuccoed stone rubble and decorative plaster, and topped with a hipped (sloped) slate roof. A prominent feature of this former manor house is its central brick ridge stack with eight pots.

The rectangular building has a main room on either side of the entrance hall, with a principal staircase ascending behind the right-hand room. A servants’ staircase is located to the rear of the left-hand room.

A service wing, extended in the late 19th century, is positioned to the rear left side, forming an overall L-shaped layout. The manor spans three storeys and five symmetrical bays. The upper storey is fitted with ‘three over six’ paned, sashed windows, while the other multi-light windows are 12-paned sashes.

The ground floor window to the left of the porch was extended in the late 19th century to form a bay window with a double sash window. The porch, adorned with a dentilled cornice, is supported on C20 replacement columns.

A dentil cornice, a design element originating from the Greek Ionic architectural style, adorned the temples of the Greek Ionic period. A later enhancement involved carving a scroll into the cornices, a feature known as Modillions or horizontal ornamental brackets.

The manor's entrance is framed by a panelled door surround, with flanking engaged pilasters, a fluted frieze, and a six-panelled door. A pilaster, a decorative feature in architecture that resembles a column, extends a portion of a wall and serves purely for aesthetic purposes.

Entrance Gates and Gatepiers

Historic England (List Entry Number 1168825) reports the entrance gates and gatepiers (Grade 2) approximately 5 metres west of Buzzacott Manor (Group Value 2). Constructed in the late 19th century: these entrance gates and gatepiers to Buzzacott Manor are composed of cast and wrought iron.

The gates are divided into five sections, with the two outer sections separated by a pair of verticals. The larger middle section is divided by a central vertical with a twist finial that descends only to the quarter-height double horizontal rail.

Each panel above and below this rail is richly ornamented with scroll and strapwork decoration. The central cartouche displays the initials of the then owners (the prominent Snell family, longstanding benefactors to Combe Martin).

The lock is stamped Hill and Smith. The gatepiers are square in section, with the capitals surmounted by ball finials and the open panelled sides filled with scroll decoration. Additionally, there is a smaller wrought iron pedestrian gate located on the left side.

Learn about Combe Martin's industrial heritage ˃

The Former Buzzacott Manor Dairy

The former Dairy to the Buzzacott Manor estate is dated to the late nineteenth-century, and is of significant historical interest. It is listed as a Grade 2 (II) building on the National Heritage List for England, indicating its special interest and warranting its preservation.

List Entry Number 1106797: the Dairy is situated approximately 12 metres west of the Combe Martin Broad Oaks farmhouse. Please note that the condition of this historic asset and the site may have changed since the last official appreciation. 

The building was originally made of unrendered brick, and featured a hipped (angled) thatched roof. It has a rectangular, two-room plan, and is a single-storey building.

The Dairy's façade is symmetrical, with a central plank door flanked by two-light casement windows. It also retains its original slate slabs around the walls of each room. 

The End of Buzzacott Manor Estate

According to P. Allington, B.Sc. (Hort.), in Agriculture magazine (Sept 1962): Buzzacott Manor was broken up and put on the market in 1919, whereupon Combe Martin people bought their landholdings.

Allington reported that buyers "paid between £300 and £500 an acre, often bidding against themselves in a blind panic that they might lose their stake". 

Such prices were still asked in Combe Martin during the early 1960s, but they were bought only when the land could be used for building. Where an acre had kept a family in the early 1900s: only 4-acre holdings and larger were holding their own in 1962 (ibid).

According to Allington in 1962, Combe Martin's "smaller holdings were being worked part-time or allowed to go derelict" (ibid).

In the early 1980s, Buzzacott Manor Gardens featured a Woolly Monkey Park, as reported in the 1984 Devon Guidebook by Judy Chard (Cadogen Books).

© Author 10 December 2023 (paraphrased)

TS 23.12. 2023 19:30 UTC: Article revised by Admin.

References accessed December 09-23, 2023:

Agriculture magazine, Vol 69 No. 6, September 1962. Author  P. Allington, B.Sc. (Hort.), N.A.A.S; Horticultural Advisory Officer in Devon. Published for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office 1962.

Article and pictures created by J.P. for Combe Martin Village History Project (2023).

Britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.

Buzzacott Former Dairy | Historic England | List Entry Number: 1106797.

Chard, Judy (1984): Devon Guidebook "Combe Martin". Cadogen Books.

Harrison, J.P, (2023): Combe Martin Industrial History: https://www.combemartinvillage.co.uk/combe-martin-industrial-history. 

Historic England: "Buzzacott Manor ; Group Value Grade 2 (GVII) Large house".

Historicengland.org.uk | Buzzacott Manor | List Entry Number: 1106796.

Historic England: Front Entrance Gates and Gatepiers circa 5 metres west of Buzzacott Manor, Combe Martin - 1168825.

Historic England Listing: NGR SS 60101 46159 - 2/56 Buzzacott Manor – 25.2.65.

Pictures displayed were created specifically for this website for non-commercial purposes.

UK Government (2023): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5beef3c9e5274a2b0b4267e0/Revised_Principles_of_Selection_2018.pdf.