Low Bishopley Farmhouse And Barn Adjoining

Low Bishopley Farmhouse and Barn Adjoining is a farmhouse and set of barns dating to the 17th century and later, located south of the A689 near Stanhope. The building is constructed of thinly-rendered sandstone rubble with a boulder plinth and quoins, and has a roof of stone slates, large Welsh slates, and 20th-century tiles, with some gable copings. The building has a linear plan with four distinct builds of 2, 2, 5, and 3 bays, totaling 12 bays.

The left part of the farmhouse incorporates a boarded door, partly glazed, in a chamfered square-headed surround. Above the door is a 2-light single-chamfered stone-mullioned window with glazing bars. The other windows are late 19th-century sashes. The left stone gable has a moulded kneeler and an ashlar corniced chimney. The second section projects slightly and exhibits massive left quoins. This section contains sashes, which are wider on the ground floor. The steeply-pitched roof features two end chimneys. The third, lower part combines a two-bay house and a three-bay barn in one build, featuring a renewed partly-glazed door with a three-pane overlight to the left, and a wide sash to the right, both under flat stone lintels. Further small sashes are located at eaves level. The barn includes a partly-glazed opening at ground floor level, and a first-floor loft door with alternate-block jambs, alongside a small square light at the top right. The fourth, quoined section is largely blind aside from a group of pigeon holes with shelves, and a square opening at the top right. A one-storey privy projects to the left with a pent roof. The rear elevation features a Tudor-arched stone surround to a cross-passage door in the third part, and a catslide roof over a one-storey extension to its right.

Inside, many doors have flat Tudor-arched surrounds and are ledged and boarded, set within walls approximately one meter thick. A closed-string dog-leg staircase is in the first part, with a half-landing and a narrow, high roll-moulded handrail supported by fat skittle balusters; the rectangular newels have ball-and-dot finials. A plank-and-muntin-panelled screen on the first floor has a similar door with moulded rails. The second section contains a plainer screen to the left of the former fire, and a rear stair with lower winders. Beams and joists have convex or stop-chamfered edges. Many doors are fitted with loop hinges supported by iron brackets. The roofs of the first part have pegged, collared trusses, while in the house-and-barn section are upper crucks with two levels of collars, short purlins in the barn that were renewed in original trenches on secondary timbers attached to crucks, meeting at the apex to carry a ridge tree. A studded, ledged plank door, now blocked, once provided access to the house. Eaves were blocked with brick to meet new rafters.