Description

LANEAST
SX 28 NW
2/138 High Hall Farmhouse
1/12/51
II*

Farmhouse. Circa late C16 - early C17; addition of mid - late C17, with alterations
of C18. Circa late C18 - early C19, the lower end room was replaced by a cross-wing
at the right end; later C19 additions and alterations, and some C20 alterations. The
original house is slatestone rubble with granite dressings. Rag slate roof with
ridge tiles, gable end to left and hipped to right. Gable end stack to left with
rubble shaft with cornice. Rear lateral stack to right, set in a raised gable with
brick shaft. The cross wing is in stone rubble; slate-hung at the front and sides.
Hipped slate roof with ridge tiles. End stacks with rendered shaft to left and brick
shaft to right.
Plan: The original house was of 3-room and cross passage plan, with inner room and
hall to left of the passage and lower end room to right. What survives is the
passage, with the solid masonry wall to the lower end to right; to left is the hall,
heated from a rear lateral stack, and the inner room to end left, heated from a gable
end stack to left. Circa mid - late C17, a stair tower was added to rear left of the
hall, and slightly later in the C17, an unheated dairy with loft over was added to
rear of the upper end room. Probably in the C18, a single storey unheated outshut
was added to rear right of the hall. Circa late C18 - early C19, the lower end room
was demolished and replaced by a cross-wing; this created a symmetrical front at the
right end. The cross wing is of 2-room plan, with room of equal size to right and
left, each room heated from an end stack. To centre there is an entrance hall, with
stair hall to rear centre. Later in the C19, a scullery/wash house was added at the
left end of the cross wing, with a corner stack at the front.
Exterior: 2 storeys, asymmetrical 3 window front; all windows on the front are of
C17, in granite. At ground floor to left and right, a 4-light window with chamfered
mullions and king mullion, with hood mould, all with 2-pane C19 lights. At first
floor there is a 3-light chamfered granite window to right and left and 2-light
granite window off-centre to right. To right there is the scullery addition of later
C19, which forms a porch entrance in front of the doorway to the passage. This has
plank door with cambered brick arch and 2-light 6-pane C19 casement with flat brick
arch. The inner doorway to the passage has 4-panelled C19 door. At the left end
there is a C20 2-light 6-pane casement with timber lintel at ground floor; this is
inserted in the position of the flue. Straight joint in the masonry to the dairy to
left. At the rear, to right there is the dairy with loft over; this has plank door
with timber lintel, and a small single casement above with slate cill. To left,
there is a straight joint in the masonry to the stair tower; this has a blocked
window with slate dripstone at ground floor, and a 3-light chamfered granite window
at first floor, of C17. There is a straight joint to left to a single storey
outshut, with C19 4-pane sash and half-glazed door, both with cambered brick arches.
At the right end is the cross wing. This is 2-storey, a symmetrical 3-window front.
Ground floor has central gabled stone porch with rounded hollow-chamfered doorway to
front, inner 6-panelled fielded C18 door with overlight with diamond pattern glazing.
Late C18 16-pane sash to right and 16-pane sash with sidelights to left. First floor
has central C18 16-pane sash, with later C19 4-pane sash to right and left. The left
end of the cross-wing is blind, slate-hung; at the right end the slate-hanging is
continued for half the return wall.
Interior: In the passage, there is part of a plank and muntin screen remaining to
left, probably of late C17 - early C18, with a C19 dresser built into the inner side.
The room is ceiled below the level of the beams, which may have been replaced; the
rear lateral fireplace is partly blocked, with C20 range and C19 mantel on shaped
brackets. The front window is hollow-chamfered inside, with splayed reveals. At the
left end is the doorway to the inner room; this doorway and the doorway to rear
leading to the stair tower, are of the same design, with ovolo-moulded frame and vase
stops with scroll and diamond carving. The rear doorway has mouldings and stops on
both sides, not rebated for a door. The doorway to the inner room has C17 door, 8-
panelled with scratch-moulded battens and raised panels. In the upper end room, to
left, the gable end fireplace has been removed; only the granite hearth remains.
There are two very large ceiling beams supported on scrolled corbels. The front
window is hollow-chamfered inside, with splayed reveals and slate cill. The room has
a slate floor, and was partitioned, probably circa late C18, to form two unheated
dairies, with slate shelves. There is a cupboard in the wall to the left of the
former fireplace, with slate shelves.
In the stair tower, there is a doorway into the rear outshut with C17 3-panelled door
with moulded battens; there was formerly a doorway in the rear of the upper end room
leading directly into the dairy. There is a wide winder stair with replaced treads;
at the landing there is a late C17 balustrade with columnar balusters with moulded
tops and bases, with columnar newel and moulded handrail. The loft over the dairy
has a plank and batten door with strap hinges. The loft room has roughly hewn beams
with purlins resting on the backs of the principals. The chamber over the upper end
room has an ovolo-moulded doorway of the same design as at ground floor, with vase
stops; later plank door. This room has a C19 chimneypiece. There are two small
rooms above the hall, each with a plank and batten door with studs and thin moulded
battens.
In the C19 cross wing, the open-well stair has stick balusters. At first floor over
the entrance hall there is a small closet room.
The roof over the upper end room, the hall and the passage survives with trusses
probably of early c17. The principal rafters are roughly hewn and chamfered, halved
and pegged at the apex. The collars are cambered and chamfered, halved and pegged to
the principals. Trenched purlins.
High Hall Farmhouse was formerly part of the Lethbridge estate.

Listing NGR: SX2366085751

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17556185

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)