Description

KNARESBOROUGH

1086/0/10037 HIGH BOND END
24-APR-08 KIRKMAN BANK

II
Originally an C18 vernacular farmhouse, greatly enlarged with a formal Georgian extension in the late C18 or early C19 to form a small country house. A further small extension added circa 1900. Coursed yellow limestone (fairer faced to the Georgian and later extensions) with Welsh slate roofs.

PLAN
The original farm house faces north west and is of 4 unequal bays and two storeys with a full sized cellar and a shallow pitched gabled roof. The narrower central bay has the main entrance opening onto a narrow stair hall and is flanked by wider bays which were both heated with ridge stacks. The narrow fourth bay, at the NE end, was unheated and was a service bay with its own door in the front elevation. The upper floor of this service bay is two steps down from the rest of the house and originally had a first floor external door in the gable wall (now blocked).

The Georgian extension is to the SW and has a formal, symmetrical garden front facing SW and an entrance front facing SE. The NW elevation is set back slightly from the front elevation of the original farmhouse. The extension is connected at both ground and first floor levels through the southern side of the original house's SW gable wall. The Georgian extension is of 4 bays, double depth and of 2 stories without cellars. The entrance is slightly off centre and gives access to a large entrance hall which is partially opened to the central stair hall. To the left (SW) the 4 bays of the garden front form 2 equally large reception rooms, each with a fireplace in the external side walls, served by the end stacks.
The extension added circa 1900 is to the right (NE) of the entrance hall and is 3 bayed (but single celled) and of 2 stories with a shallow pitched hipped roof with an end stack.

EXTERIOR
Original farmhouse:
The windows are all differing sizes but are generally 8 over 8 unhorned sashes with the exception of the right hand windows to the front (upper window is horned, the lower is horned and 6 over 6) and the 2 ground floor windows to the rear (both horned). The windows in the NE gable (both on the ground floor) are 8 by 8 horizontal sliding sashes. The lintels of the ground floor openings to the front and side are voussoired flat arches, with the rest of the lintels being single piece stones. Both doors are 6 panelled externally but vertically planked internally. The low pitched gabled roof is plain slated. The ridge stacks are also stone.
Georgian extension:
The windows are all regularly sized 6 over 6 sash windows, hornless to the ground floor, with horns to the first floor. Lintels are all flat arches formed from single stones. The roof is hipped with a shallow pitch with matching end stacks to produce a symmetrical SW garden front. The various soil pipes on the SW front are later additions serving two upstairs bathrooms. The SE front has a slightly off-centre entrance with a 6 panelled door with a 4 pane rectangular fanlight above set in a recessed porch, this porch is provided with outer double doors which are full height and also panelled. To the right there is a window on the ground floor with a further window central to the right hand bay on the first floor. The left hand bay is blind. Similarly the NW elevation has a blind right hand bay with windows restricted to the rear, left hand bay. Central to the NE front, partially covered by a later infill extension, is a round headed stair window.
Circa 1900 extension:
This 3 bay extension is set back slightly from the entrance front and has 6 over 6 horned sash windows to both ground and first floor with simple single stone lintels. The low pitched slate roof projects from the roof of the Georgian extension and ends with a hip to the NE. There is one ridge stack (serving fireplaces in the Georgian extension) and an end stack.

INTERIOR
Original farmhouse:
The staircase is a straight flight, closed string stair with stick balusters. Windows generally retain internal shutters, some retaining late C18/early C19 style hinges and simple draw bars. Doors are typically 4 panel and may be C19 replacements. Some of the partitions on the first floor are single thickness planked partitions with simple roll mouldings to the plank edges.
Georgian extension:
The staircase has an open well with quarter landings, with an open string, stick balusters and a ramped handrail. Windows again retain internal shutters, but these are panelled and of a higher specification to those of the original farmhouse. Internal doors are also of better quality than those of the original farmhouse being heavy 4 panel doors that are very well painted to appear to be hardwood - this paintwork possibly being original. All of the principal rooms of this part of the house retain a good range of fireplaces with surrounds. The style of these fireplaces is relatively modest for the size of property. Ceiling plasterwork is also restrained with a lack of cornicing. The door architraves and panelling to the entrance and stair halls as well as the upstairs landing is probably a later alteration.
Circa 1900 extension:
This was probably originally a billiard room to the ground floor with a large bedroom or nursery above. The windows of this extension were obviously designed without shutters. Ceiling plasterwork is more elaborate, but still relatively restrained. Both upstairs and downstairs rooms retain contemporary fireplaces with surrounds.

ASSOCIATED FEATURES
To the north east there is a walled garden with a brick southern face and a stone northern face. This includes a large lean-to timber greenhouse which may be late C19th in date but has replacement glazing. Between the walled garden and the original farm house there is a range of outbuildings and a coach house / stable which has been converted for domestic occupation with inserted picture windows. Downhill and to the south west of the house there is a stone built ha-ha.

HISTORY
The original house is thought to have been built as a farm house by the Collins family in the C18, whose principal seat was Knaresborough House in the centre of town. The family added the large extension in the late C18 or early C19 to present a formal Georgian style garden front facing south west. The 1851 1:1056 Ordnance Survey town plan of Knaresborough shows this extension together with the walled garden, various outbuildings as well as details of the layout of the grounds. This plan also shows that within the angle between the original house and the extension there was a conservatory and a small walled garden or courtyard complete with a tree. The first edition 1:2500 map (1891) shows some alteration within this area, but still shows the conservatory. It also shows the greenhouse for the first time in the walled garden. By the next edition, 1909, the conservatory had been removed and replaced with the small extension thought to have been for a billiard room. The house remained occupied by the Collins family until the death of Lady Collins in circa 2007.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION

Kirkman Bank is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* For retaining a largely unaltered C18 high status vernacular farmhouse
* For the additional interest of the well preserved large Georgian addition with its well composed garden elevation.
* For the historic interest of the change in status of the original farmhouse as it became a service wing to the more formal Georgian house.
* For the survival of a wide range of ancillary buildings and structures, especially the ha-ha and the walled garden.

Reasons for Listing

Kirkman Bank is designated for listing at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* For retaining a largely unaltered C18 high status vernacular farmhouse
* For the additional interest of the well preserved large Georgian addition with its well composed garden elevation.
* For the historic interest of the change in status of the original farmhouse as it became a service wing to the more formal Georgian house.
* For the survival of a wide range of ancillary buildings and structures, especially the ha-ha and the walled garden.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671780

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)