History

Late C15 stone-built hall house of clear gentry quality and located on an elevated, upland site, reflecting the earliest settlement patterns in the area. Despite its obvious significance, the history of its early ownership is obscure. The house is of cross-passage plan with 5-bay interior, originally with open, full-height hall to the third and fourth bays (from L); in the second-half C16 a central chimney was inserted to replace the original open hearth. The usual convention of services at the lower, and unheated parlour at the dais end is followed, the latter retaining its post-and-panel screen. The building was extensively restored in the late 1980s.

Exterior

Late medieval hall-house of rubble construction on boulder foundations; modern slate roof, the former gable parapets lost. Large central chimney with simply-moulded capping and weather-coursing. All the openings, save that to the R gable end, are original. The doors are modern and of boarded oak, the windows have plain glazing with modern chamfered oak mullions. Off-centre opposing entrances with Tudor-arched openings with narrow voussoirs. The entrance side has 2 windows to the L and one to the R of the entrance; the gable ends each have high windows, that to the L small and primary, that to the R a loading bay alteration, now glazed. The arrangement of openings is similar to the rear, though all save the window to the far L are now obscured by 2 lean-to additions, that to the R C20; corrugated asbestos roofs. This side has pronounced boulder foundations and a slate-flagged pavement in front of the entrance (now within the lean-to); the original stopped-chamfered, pegged oak doorcase survives, with segmental head.

Interior

Five-bay interior with the original arch-braced pegged collar trusses, with 2 tiers of cusped windbraces (some restoration); there is clear evidence of smoke blackening to the roof timbers. Inserted into the third bay (from L) is a large chimney breast with wide fireplace facing the open hall of the fourth bay. This has a chamfered, heavily depressed (almost flat) Tudor-arched bressummer, with the (later) incised date of 1519. The hall truss is chamfered, the remainder plain. At the dais end is a partition truss with original post-and-panel partition having outer entrances (for access to the parlour and the upper sleeping chamber respectively). The R opening is primary and has a chamfered, Tudor-arched head; that to the L is a modern oak copy. The wall heads have been largely rebuilt but retain their inner and outer wall plates, built up (characteristically for the region) in rubble above; slate flagged floors throughout.

Reasons for Listing

Listed Grade II* for its special interest as a rare surviving and well-preserved example of an early high-status house.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17743920

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)