12 High Street, Catterick, North Yorkshire

Summary

Small, mid-C18 house with later C18, C19 and early C20 additions and alterations.

Description

House, mid-C18 with later additions and alterations.

MATERIALS: mainly coursed river cobbles, some being roughly dressed, but including some hand-made brick and some stone dressings. Brick end stacks, pan-tile roofs.

PLAN: central entrance, single depth with stair to the rear wall; extended in at least two phases to form a double depth house with the stair to the centre.

EXTERIOR: West (front): roughly symmetrical of two storeys and three bays. Central six panelled door with a relatively simple rectangular overlight featuring a pair of hexagonal panes, all set in an stone surround of ashlar quoins, the lintel having a simple keystone. Flanking the entrance are a matched pair of canted bays featuring turned colonnettes at the angles, the windows retaining hornless sashes. The three first floor windows have exposed sash boxes and horned, two-over-two sashes. The openings have simple wedge lintels and cills, both in stone. The roof has a stone slate eaves course and coping to the south gable, supported by a shaped kneeler. The stacks (that to the north being shared with Number 14) are rebuilt above the roof line.
South: the gable end of the front range is more roughly-built than the front elevation, but is roughly stone quoined. The course of the flues are shown by C18 brickwork. The gable is blind except for an inserted doorway to the left (east). Next to this, within the rear wing, is another doorway with a late C20 timber-gabled porch roof. Beyond is a 24 pane bow fronted window with a stone ashlar plinth and cill. The heightening to the rear wing is clearly marked by a change in stonework from roughly coursed, mainly undressed river cobbles, to more neatly dressed, sized and coursed stonework above. The two windows have two-over-two horned sashes, beneath brick flat arches.

East: the gable end of the wing is blind. The upper floor is quoined in brickwork, brick also being used for the flues, the end stack above the roofline appearing not to have been recently rebuilt. The verge is raised and stone coped, but lacks kneelers. The Edwardian in-fill to the north of the wing is built of re-used brick and rubble stone. It has scattered fenestration, mainly two-over-two horned sashes and has a low-pitched lean-to roof. Above this within the main roof, there is a flat-roofed dormer window which lights the top stair landing. Extending east of the northern end of the elevation is a single storey range of former outbuildings that have been rebuilt to form a utility room, this being largely stone built, but including early C20 stock brick.

INTERIOR: retains a range of period features such as simple timber architraves and doors, mainly being four-panelled. The canted bay windows to the front have shutters, the front south room also having a large wall cupboard retaining doors. The ground floor room in the rear wing has iron hooks in the ceiling and a floor of red and black tiles. The staircase is a straight flight between walls, with irregularities in the rear wall marking the position of the former stair window blocked by the construction of the Edwardian infill. The balustrading to the landing is simple, but potentially largely original. The three ground floor fireplaces are all altered. Three of the four upstairs fireplaces are probably original and contribute to the dating of the parts of the building: that to the north bedroom featuring an C18 hour-glass hob grate set in a timber surround; that to the rear wing being a highly decorative C19 round arched fireplace with an integrated mantel shelf all formed from a single cast iron casting; and that to the infill (now forming the bathroom) also being a single casting, but in an Art Nouveau influenced design probably dating to the early C20. The timber surround and mantelpiece to the remaining bedroom fireplace (front, south) may also be original, but the cast iron and tiled fireplace is modern.

The roof structure retains a pair of simple trusses that may be original, but jack rafters and purlins are mainly modern.

SUBSIDIARY ITEMS: extending forward from the south gable of the front elevation is a tall garden wall with an arched, stone ashlar pedestrian gateway closed with a boarded door.

History

12 High Street is thought to date to the mid-C18, based on its architectural details. Originally it was a single depth property, but a single storey, two-bay wing was added to the rear, probably also in the C18, its south facing window enlarged into a bow fronted window in the late C18 or early C19, possibly around the same time as the wing was heightened to two storeys. The lower, but still two storey, addition infilling the angle between the main range and rear wing does not appear to be depicted on the 1893 Ordnance Survey map, this instead shows a smaller addition in this position, and is thought to be an Edwardian addition. However the map does appear to depict the canted bay windows to the front elevation. These are likely to have been added in the mid-C19. The single storey outbuildings and additions to the rear of the property are considered to be largely the result of late-C20 rebuilding and alteration. There are some indications that the house was at one time linked internally with its northern neighbour, 14 High Street (Grade II).

Reasons for Listing

12 High Street, Catterick, a mid-C18 house, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as a good example of a modest, but respectable mid-C18 house that was expanded and improved in stages by subsequent generations, being an illustration of the interplay between polite architectural mannerisms and local vernacular building;
* Architectural interest: retaining a good range of period features, the south facing bow window being particularly notable.

External Links

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