Colt House Grange Farm and Attached Outbuildings, Stonebeck Down, North Yorkshire

Description

STONEBECK DOWN RAMSGILL ROAD
SE 16 NW
12/101 (west side, off)
25-jun-1987 Colthouse Grange Farm
and attached outbuildings

Formerly listed as:

STONEBECK DOWN RAMSGILL ROAD
SE 16 NW
(west side, off)
12/101 Colt House Farm

- II

Farm house and attached agricultural outbuilding. C17, extensively rebuilt in the early C19 for the Yorke Estate of Bewerley Hall. Coursed squared stone with graduated stone slate roof.

PLAN
Double fronted, double depth with central entrance opening onto the straight stair. Evidence that the building was at one time subdivided into two back to back cottages with a second stair rising from the back door. To the rear, across a small courtyard, is a two storey former agricultural building with a barn to the west and a pig sty, with chicken housing above, to the east.

EXTERIOR
The front is symmetrical of three bays and two storeys. Regular stonework suggests that it is of a single build. Central entrance with a quoined surround, a plain stone lintel with a narrow drip course above. Current door is boarded but is recorded as having been six panelled in 1987. Windows are eight over eight sashes set in plain stone surrounds with slightly projecting cills. Ground floor windows also have narrow drip courses. Two windows on the first floor are hornless and are probably C19. The others are horned and may be C20 refurbishments. Gables are raised and stone coped with shaped kneelers. Stone built, twin flued end stacks.

East gable:
Stonework rougher with indications that the building was originally single storied. Ground floor to the rear is a 2 light mullioned window that is inset and chamfered and is early to mid C17 in design. Towards the centre, at about the height of the current first floor structure, is a blocked single light window with a chamfered surround which is also probably C17. This may have lit the attic space before the building was heightened to 2 stories. The ground floor window to the front is a C20 insert with a small paned casement window.

Rear:
Stonework is of several builds. Central door with a chamfered surround and lintel, with a shallow triangular head to the opening. This doorway is probably early to mid C17. The stonework suggests that the lintel has been raised by one course. The door itself is planked and hung on blacksmith-made strap hinges. To the right there is a 10 over 10 hornless sash in a plain surround with evidence that the opening has been heightened. The two first floor windows are 4 over 8 sashes set in plain surrounds. Gables retain shaped kneelers.

West gable
Appears to be of a single build. The three ground floor windows are C20 insertions.

INTERIOR
Interior doors throughout the building are the same, being plank doors of random width planks, hung with C19 pattern strap hinges, although these hinges are mass-produced. Architraving is also consistent throughout the building and is probably C20 refurbishment. Right front room is ceilinged with a boxed-in floor beam. Late C19 cast iron fireplace set in a simple stone surround with a modern reproduction stone mantelpiece. Left front room has exposed floor joists supported by a boxed-in beam that is rough hewn. The joists and floor boards above are probably C20 replacements. Large, simple fireplace, probably originally for a range cooker. Left rear room: Sawn pine floor joists, roughly chamfered, possibly C19 but supporting later floor boards. Evidence for a second staircase position rising from the back door. Right rear room: Exposed hewn hardwood joists, several retaining meat hooks. The staircase appears to be a modern replacement, but probably in its C19 position. The first floor lacks fireplaces. The front left bedroom has a walk-in cupboard above the front door with an internal multipaned window lighting the stairs. Roof structure includes at least one, probably two, bolted king post trusses.

OUTBUILDING
This is connected to the rear of the house via a tall yard wall. Built of finely jointed, almost ashlar stonework. This building has been converted to domestic use but retains ventilation openings (now glazed), a pair of pig feeding troughs and a flight of external stone steps. The building is in two parts: a two storey barn with a pitched roof with bolted king post trusses and a pig sty with chicken housing above all under a single pitched roof.

HISTORY
The two chamfered windows and the rear door indicate that the house is early to mid C17 in origin, the gable suggesting it was single storey with a steeply pitched roof. The frontage indicates it was extensively rebuilt in the early C19 as part of a farmstead marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Colt House, probably as part of the estate owned by the Yorke family of Bewerley Hall. The outbuilding to the rear appears to be slightly later, but is probably the building shown on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map. Just over 20m to the south of Colthouse Grange farm there is another farm house with a very similar early C19 frontage. This house (known as Colthouse) was probably the principal farmhouse of the complex, but has been altered and extended.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION

Colthouse Grange Farm with its attached outbuilding is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is a good example of a gentrified farmhouse dating to the early C19, retaining a little altered main frontage.
* The farmhouse retains features (principally to the rear and east gable), of an early to mid C17 house.
* Although the house and its outbuilding have been extensively refurbished in the C20, this refurbishment is generally in keeping. The outbuilding for instance can still be identified as originally being an agricultural building.

Listing NGR: SE1239669684

External Links

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