Eastward Farmhouse and attached Barns, Bampton, Cumbria

Summary

Farmhouse, probably late C17, extended in the C18, with minor C20 adaptations; two attached combination barns, probably C18 or early C19, with later additions.

Description

Farmhouse, probably late C17, extended in the C18, with minor C20 adaptations; two attached combination barns, probably C18 or early C19, with later additions.

MATERIALS: all buildings are of local stone rubble with graduated Westmorland slate roofs; the east elevation of the house is roughcast.

PLAN: a linear farmhouse oriented north to south, with a combination barn attached at right angles to its north gable, and a combination barn (attached by a stone wall) at right angles to its south gable. The farmhouse and barns form a simple U-plan farmstead around three sides of a yard, open to the east.

EXTERIOR: a stone-built three and two-storey farmhouse beneath pitched roofs, with gable end chimney stacks and a cross-axial ridge stack. Sash windows are generally unhorned and have fine glazing bars. The main (east) elevation has three storeys to the original south part and two storeys to the northern addition. The original part of the farmhouse has a pair of drip moulds and there are three first floor windows; the windows have chamfered reveals, probably originally mullioned, and small-paned horizontally sliding sashes. There are three windows to the ground floor, two horizontal sliding sash windows (six-by-six to the east of the porch and four-by-four to the west of the porch) and a smaller six pane fixed light ‘fire’ window. The main entrance, with a gabled porch, has a double, studded door. A small-paned window lights the attic. The added northern part has a first floor eight-over-eight sash window, and a ground floor four-over-four sash window, and a segmental-headed entrance with renewed six-panel door. The rear (west) elevation has a walled court at the north-east corner, and a gabled range with a corniced end stack and a single six-over-six sash window to the lower right. The north elevation of this gabled range has a first floor six-over-six sash window and a ground floor eight-over-eight sash window. The remainder of the rear elevation is obscured by a full-length two-storey range with a catslide roof; it has scattered fenestration, mostly small openings with timber lintels, drip moulds and stone sills. The south gable has slated crow steps and a slate drip mould to the upper part.

A two-storey combination barn is attached to the north gable of the house and the north wall of the external court. The barn is of coursed slate with crude quoins beneath a pitched roof of graduated slate. Its south elevation has a lintel inscribed C and ME 1744 to a small ground floor window; to the left there is an entrance with chamfered jambs and a timber lintel, two further windows and a first-floor pitching door. The north elevation has a full-height cart entrance, with a gabled projecting wing to the right, and a long lean-to outshut to the left. The east gable is blind, and there is a boarded door with strap hinges through the east elevation of the lean-to outshut. The west gable is obscured by the addition of a gabled pitched roof outbuilding. Attached to the south gable of the farmhouse is a high stone wall with a full-height camber-headed arched opening of narrow voussoirs; this links to a second two-storey combination barn with a pitched roof. The barn's west and east gables are blind, and the latter is crow stepped. The south elevation has a ground floor entrance and a pair of small eaves windows with stone jambs and lintels. There is an attached narrow, L-shaped stone range with a hipped roof, an open-fronted section, terminating in a sheep dip; this addition is of lesser interest than the rest of the complex. The north elevation has a full-height cart door, flanked to the left by a pair of boarded door openings with camber-headed arches of narrow voussoirs, and to the right by a similar opening and square-headed openings to the ground and first floors.

INTERIOR: the original part of the farmhouse has chamfered ceiling beams and stone-flagged floors throughout; beams to the C18 addition are largely boxed in. There are multiple original doors to all areas, many with original door furniture. The main entrance opens directly into an L-shaped living room with a large inglenook supported on a substantial fire beam, which is lit by a fire window. A C19 cast-iron range is set into an early stone fireplace, and there are fitted cupboards to both sides, some with fielded-panel doors. Within the inglenook there are multiple metal hooks and the inner face of the fire beam has a series of crude cupboards, some with butterfly hinges. The west wall has a fitted wooden decorative rack, extending left above a doorway and right to incorporate a timber rack with a scrolled pedimented head and urn finials. A window seat to the east wall has fielded panelling. The south side of this room is formed by a timber panelled partition, four panels high, with an integral three-panel boarded door. On the other side of the partition there is a narrow parlour with a plain stone fire surround and a slate mantel shelf. A corbelled beam runs to either side, and left of the fireplace is a stone plinth with a paen-fronted storage chest, possibly a peat store. There is a blocked mullioned window to the east wall, and a door opening with a double thickness door in the west wall leads into a buttery/dairy with fitted stone benches; the corbelled beam continues into this room. The main stair is adjacent to the buttery and there is a second small buttery/dairy to the right entered through an original door; this has a concrete floor and later work surfaces/storage shelves. In a passageway immediately outside this room a timber spice cupboard with a fielded-panel door is set into a wall. The two-storey C18 addition has a ground floor hall leading from the front door, a living room, and a rear room. The living room has original segmental-headed fitted cupboards with fluted pilasters and a dentil cornice to either side of an inserted 1950s fireplace, and a panelled window seat is also retained. The rear room has a C20 range set into a fire breast, and there is a timber spice cupboard set into the right alcove, engraved CM 1728. A rear entrance fitted with a double studded door opens into a small external court; the latter has a stone flagged floor, a set of stone steps leading up to a boarded entrance and a stone bench. The rear entrance has a substantial lintel and a slate drip stone.

The stone stair leads from the living room through an opening with a crude architrave and a three-panelled door. It comprises two straight flights separated by a stepped half-landing, and a first-floor landing that bridges the staircase, all with simple, crude balustrades. The original part of the first floor has three bedrooms to the front and two bedrooms to the rear; there are several floor-boarded floors. The rear rooms are situated either side of the stair and housed within the cat- slide roof which retains its original timber roof structure. The front rooms are separated by shallow, plank and muntin partitions, and all rooms retain original plank doors. The most northerly bedroom has a corner attic staircase, set within a later partition, that also encloses a chimney breast. The attic retains the original oak, double-purlin roof structure with ridge purlin, and two raised tie trusses. Further blocked windows are visible, including one which retains leaded glass panes, and the upper stone chimney flue is visible to the north gable. The C18 addition has a single, large first floor bedroom to the front and a bathroom to the rear. The bedroom is open to the roof, and has a pair of fitted cupboards, also with fluted pilasters and dentilled cornices, and the opposing wall retains the original external chimney of the original dwelling. The bedroom and bathroom are separated by an C18 folding, timber-panelled partition with a matching door. The bathroom retains the shutters and panelling to the rear window.

The interior of the northern barn is a double-height space with a replacement soft wood king-post roof structure. There are stalls for a stable beneath a mezzanine hayloft to the eastern end. The attached lean-to retains an historic roof structure and there is a timber manger to one end. The interior of the south barn is a largely double-height space, with a flagged threshing floor and an area of stalls beneath a mezzanine hayloft to each end; the timber stalls are mostly double stalls for cattle, and flank a central manure/feeding passage. The seven-bay double-purlin roof structure is a mixture of kingposts and queen-post trusses, with some purlins and all rafters renewed, but which mostly retains original elm principal members. The attached L-shaped range retains timber feeding racks and part of the original roof structure, and the sheep dip retains its fittings.

History

Eastward is thought to have been constructed in the late C17 as a three-storey, five bay farmhouse (south part of the present building); several windows are blocked, thought to be window tax avoidance (1698-1851). In the C18 the original dwelling was extended to the north by a two-bay, two storey addition (north part of the present building). The pair of attached barns are of C18 or early-C19 in date. The small farmstead is present at the time of Thomas Jeffrey’s Map of Westmorland (surveyed 1768) as it is clearly annotated 'Eastward'. The first edition 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1860 confirms that the present U-shaped plan form of the farmstead was established by this time. By the time of the slightly more detailed 1897 map revision, the mono-pitch extension to the north elevation of the house and the open courtyard are clearly depicted for the first time, but are considered to have been present, but indistinct, on the earlier 1860 map. Subsequent C20 mapping shows that the plan form of the farmstead remained largely unchanged throughout most of the century, and by the 1970s had seen only the addition of several small outbuildings.

Reasons for Listing

Eastward farmhouse of C17 and C18 date, with attached combination barns of C18 or early-C19 date, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a small farmstead of considerable character, that reflects the local vernacular in its materials and styling including crow stepped gables and stone mullioned windows;
* a highly legible evolved dwelling, whose phased development reflects changing architectural fashions and status;
* the C18 extended plan-form preserves within it the C17 two-unit plan-form, and the hierarchy of the internal spaces is clearly expressed throughout;
* a remarkable survival of a C17 and C18 domestic interior including a wealth of fixtures and fittings that illustrate the character of a well-appointed, Cumbrian farmhouse;
* chamfered structural beams throughout, and the retention of entire C17 and C18 roof structures, illustrate extensive evidence of contemporary carpentry methods and techniques;
* for the associated pair of combination barns which display considerable vernacular character and survival, and which retain good examples of increasingly rare cattle and horse stalling.

External Links

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