Description

SD 94 NE LOTHERSDALE LOTHERSDALE ROAD

6/83 Stone Gappe (formerly
listed under Glusburn
10.9.54 CP)

II*

House, 1725 (on chimneystack). Built for William Bawdwen. Hammer dressed stone with a hipped stone slate roof. Built of three storeys and five bays, the south front being symmetrical around a canted triple bay. Two string courses which ramp up to meet chamfered quoins, the elevation being competed by a heavy cornice. Windows are sashes, those to the ground floor being architraved, those to upper floors having, plain stone surrounds. To the east gable wall is a small semioctagonal porch with a round-headed doorway and two tripartite square stone-mullion windows which have sashes. To the rear wall there is a round-headed stair window which has sashes retaining glazing bars, along with an early mullion window. This window, though missing its central mullion, is double chamfered, the outer chamfer being hollow. Of the two chimneys, one has blind arcading, and is inscribed 1725 WMB. Inside the house has been altered, but it retains an early staircase of 2 flights with a heavy closed string, moulded handrail, turned balusters and panelled newels. The main staircase has cantilevered stone treads, cast iron balusters and a continuous handrail.

Listing NGR: SD9679245751

This listing was enhanced in 2016 to mark the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth.

History

Stone Gappe is thought to have been the basis for Gateshead Hall in Charlotte Bronte’s (1816-55) Jane Eyre (1847): Jane’s unhappy childhood home in the novel. In May 1839, Charlotte moved to Stone Gappe to be the governess to the Sidgwick family’s children, however the position proved to be disagreeable to her and by the 19th of the next month she gave up the position and returned to her father’s parsonage in Haworth.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Stone Gappe at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17535016

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability