History

Originally a cruck-framed hall-house open to the roof, probably late medieval. The house was extended to the W later, probably in the late C16. Possibly at the same time, the walls of the original hall-house were rebuilt in stone and a chimney stack inserted, forming a lobby entrance arrangement, although the entrance and stack are not quite aligned. The ceiling was probably added at this time. A stack to the W end may be C17-18. The house is now disused and was in poor condition at the time of inspection.

Exterior

Long single-storey range of shaley rubble stone on a boulder plinth, under a graded slate roof; 2 stone stacks with capstones and weather-coursing, tall stack offset slightly to R, second shorter stack to L end. The entrance has a boarded door under an old timber lintel; 2 wooden casement windows to its R, that to far end with small-panes. Towards the L end is a larger window opening, now unglazed. The wall is partly rebuilt between this window and the entrance, with a butt joint on its R side. Small sky-lights to roof pitch. A later raked stone buttress supports the E gable end. Small opening offset to R of W gable end. The rear elevation is built into the bank and only the upper part is extant. Part of a cruck blade is exposed to the L of the ridge stack. Between the stacks are 4 small openings with early wooden frames, said to have mortises for square timber mullions.

Interior

No access to interior at time of inspection (2003). In 1992 the entrance led into a lobby in front of the fireplace with a straight wooden stair against its L side. To the R was the former hall, with flagstone floor. The large stone fireplace had a substantial deeply chamfered timber lintel and contained a small brick grate, with bakeoven to the R and the base for a copper tub to the L. A cruck-truss adjacent to the fireplace contained the doorway, its head carved into the soffit of the tie beam, the S blade visible inside, the N blade visible outside. The cruck-truss to the E divided the hall from a former inner room; it had a chamfered smoke-blackened tie-beam, attached to which was a partition of in-and-out construction. The inner room had a winding stair in the corner and a ceiling with half-beams and sawn joists. To the W of the entrance most of the partitions had been removed; the first retained one post, possibly the remains of a post-and-panel partition. The ceiling had deeply chamfered beams with broach stops, and chamfered joists with run-out stops. Further W was a pantry or dairy, divided axially from a passage. The W end fireplace was partly blocked and had a large stop-chamfered timber lintel.

The attic storey was divided in 2 at the position of the central stack, each part reached by its own staircase. The cruck-truss dividing the E section had a lapped collar and 2 rows of purlins; some of the original rafters remained, all smoke-blackened. The truss near the fireplace was similar. The W section had 2 tie-beam trusses with collars, and vertical posts defining doorways; cruck truss to W end. The house retained fixed furniture, including at least 3 cupboard beds.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* as an exceptional survival of a late medieval hall-house, with well preserved detail from the C15-17.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17744437

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)