Beckside farmhouse and barns, Crook, Cumbria

Summary

Farmhouse, later C17 with mid-late C19 addition; bank barn and threshing barn, late C18 or early C19.

Description

Farmhouse, later C17 with mid-late C19 addition; bank barn and threshing barn, late C18 or early C19 with later additions.

MATERIALS: local stone rubble, the house is rendered; roofs are of graduated Lakeland slate.

PLAN: a linear two-unit farmhouse with rear service wing and added western bay, and an adjacent L-shaped hybrid bank barn with added west and east lean-tos. Situated to the west is a detached rectangular barn with former threshing bay.

EXTERIOR: the farmhouse has two storeys and six-bays beneath a pitched roof of graduated Lakeland slate, with rear wing and lean-to additions. The main (south) elevation has six first floor windows, five forming the original dwelling with end chimney stacks, and an added additional western bay with end stack. All windows have stone sills and are fitted with replacement casement frames. The main entrance towards the right end has a gabled porch, flanked to either side by a 12-pane window, with a narrower nine-pane window further to the left, possibly the location of a fire window lighting the inglenook; the three ground floor windows have slate drip moulds. Attached to the left is a single bay with inserted French doors with exposed stone surround, and a window above to match those of the earlier phase. The right and left returns are blind, and the right return is continued north by the rear range which has regular fenestration with stone sills and replacement casement frames. The rear elevation has regular fenestration and is partially obscured by a later lean-to. An original range projects forwards from the left end with a pitched roof and a gable end stack, and a lean-to extension; within the latter a cobbled plinth is visible to the original external wall of the rear range, which also has a door with substantial stone lintel.

The L-shaped hybrid bank barn is of stone rubble construction, quoined to the upper walls, beneath pitched roofs of graduated slate. Each of its three gables has an owl hole to the apex. The east gabled elevation has a central ground floor opening, probably an original door, now partially blocked to form a window; its arched head is constructed of narrow and long voussoirs. The south elevation comprises a linear east-west range with a pair of cow house entrances with substantial stone lintels to either end, flanking a pair of ventilation slits. To the west is a gabled north-south range with a similar stable entrance and pitching door above, and a small ground floor window and ventilation slits. The west gable has a large first floor entrance fitted with double boarded doors beneath a timber lintel, reached by a stone-built ramped access with integral entrance leading beneath the ramp. The rest of the elevation is obscured by a later high lean-to with corrugated sheet roof and various openings. The gabled north elevation has a pair of ventilation slits to each level, and attached lean tos.

The western barn is single-storey of rubble construction beneath a pitched roof of slate. It has a central tall cart entrance with double timber boarded doors beneath a timber lintel and slate dripstone to the north elevation; to the left is an entrance (blocked) with a drip mould, and to the right is a single ventilation slit. The right return is blind save for three owl holes to the gable apex, and the left gable return has similar owl holes and a pair of lower ventilation slits. The rear elevation has an opposing set of double cart doors indicating a threshing bay, and there is a lean-to addition to the east gable.

INTERIOR: the farmhouse entrance opens into the firehouse (main living room) of the original two-unit house, which has a pair of adzed and waney ceiling beams and wooden window seats. The remains of an inglenook to the former west gable has a fire beam and a heck passage to the right. There is an inserted chimneybreast with small spice cupboard to the right, and a crude tall, rectangular alcove with timber lintel, which is an original, blocked gable entrance. At the east end of the room, a plank and muntin partition is fixed to a timber beam, with an integral two-panel door at either end opening into the parlour. The latter has a pair of ceiling beams projecting through a plastered ceiling, and the inner face of the plank and muntin partition is also plastered. The lower part of a curving cruck blade rising into the plastered ceiling is embedded into the original east gable wall. Windows have wooden seats, one with a fielded panelled back. The higher ceilinged western bay has a late-C19 or early C20-fireplace and chimney piece. A plank and batten door leads from the rear of the firehouse to a rear kitchen/dairy, which has a stone flagged floor and substantial oak ceiling beams and rafters, and a second plank door leads outside.

An oak straight-flight staircase at the rear of the firehouse, within enclosed by plank and muntin panelling, rises to the first floor. It has a flat-topped handrail with moulded sides, attached to a simple square-plan newel post with ball finial, and a landing balustrade of bobbin balusters. The western bedroom retains no historic features. The L-shaped first floor hall has a floorboard floor and six plank and batten doors constructed with two panels to the outer side open into five rooms. Rooms are mostly separated from the first-floor hall and from each other by unpainted plank and muntin partitions, with uprights showing clear adze marks. Rooms generally have floorboard floors, and some boards are especially wide. The main bedroom with a door to each end was formerly partitioned, and a small cast-iron grate is inserted into an earlier chimney breast; there is a similar fireplace to the adjacent bedroom, and a cast iron grate to the rear bedroom. Limited views through holes in the ceilings above the east-west range and the north-south range indicate that an early roof structure is retained, as is a stone firehood to the east gable.

The first floor of the bank barn retains a hay sink mow at its north end. The building largely retains its original king post roof structure with some replacement members; it has a modern boarded floor and a modern timber partition. The ground floor of the barn has a ceiling of adzed and waney first floor timbers throughout, and is divided into several compartments. One of these is a cow house that retains a row of three intact timber and slate cattle stalls with stone floors, stone feeding troughs, and tethering rings. A stone kerbed feeding/manure channel with stone flagged and cobbled surface, separates these rows of stalls from an opposing second row of three stalls, mostly now dismantled. A further compartment contains a similar arrangement of two rows of three timber and slate stalls with a cobbled floor and a central, intact fodder gang. The whole is largely intact, and some have timber feeders and stone troughs set in the ground. An adjacent stable has a complete row of three timber stalls with cobbled floors and integral timber feeders. The western lean-to, accessed via a passage beneath the ramp, contains a modern milking parlour.

The interior of the western barn retains the original double purlin roof structure of two triangular tie-beam trusses with collars.

History

The first edition 1:2500 Ordnance Survey (OS) map published in 1860 depicts the farmhouse and three barns, in addition to an attached rectangular orchard to the north of the farmhouse with a small building attached to its west wall, and a larger building on the opposite side of the beck. It is annotated 'Beckside'. The farmhouse has a similar footprint to today, except for the western extension (unbuilt) and the two rear lean-to additions. The L-shaped bank barn also has a similar footprint with rear ramped access, except for the unbuilt western lean-to. The west threshing barn and an adjacent field barn are depicted, the latter with an internal partition. By the OS revision of 1897 all buildings have assumed their present footprints, a second small building has been added to the west wall of the orchard, the building across the beck has been removed and the orchard extended into this area. The same footprints are retained to the present day.

The farmhouse retains a cruck blade encased within the east gable wall, which points to a probable late-C17 origin. It was originally constructed as a two-unit plan house with a rear wing forming a dairy/kitchen. The internal fixtures and fittings to the original building conform to a later-C17 or early-C18 date. The L-shaped barn is a type of barn known as a hybrid bank barn that combined the characteristics of a bank barn and a field barn. It was used primarily for the storage of hay and for housing cattle. It has diagnostic features including a ramped access to the upper level and storage bays that dropped down to the lower level as sink mows. It is considered to date from the later C18 or early C19. The west barn is probably of a similar date and with opposing central double doors it appears to have included a threshing function combined with storage.

Reasons for Listing

Farmhouse of later-C17 date with mid-to-late C19 addition, and bank barn and threshing barn of later-C18 or early-C19 date are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a good example of C17 Westmorland farmhouse constructed in the local vernacular style and materials, which contributes to our understanding of regional diversity;
* good survival of structural fabric including mass walling, at least one cruck blade, a replacement triangular truss roof structure, and chamfered floor/ceiling beams;
* a later-C17 dwelling, whose original two-unit with rear dairy/kitchen plan is preserved and highly legible;
* a range of historic internal fixtures and fittings are retained including staircase, doors, wide floorboards, plank and muntin partitions, spice cupboard, and stone flags;
* the threshing barn retains its vernacular character through which its threshing and storage functions are clearly expressed, and there is good survival of original fabric including an original tie beam roof structure;
* the hybrid bank barn is a good example of the type, that retains its vernacular character, and whose original functions are well expressed including the retention of a sink mow;
* taken together, the farmhouse, adjacent bank barn and threshing barn, illustrates the type of simple, small Westmorland farmstead that characterise the area.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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