Demesne Farm Demesne House

Demesne Farm and Demesne House are two separate residences, originally a farmhouse. They date to 1705, as indicated by the initials "R.F." and the year carved on a lintel. The buildings are constructed of sandstone rubble with gritstone quoins and ashlar dressings, with roofs of Lakeland and Welsh slate, stone gable copings, ashlar and yellow brick chimneys.

The main farmhouse is two storeys high and has three bays. The central doorway has a stop-chamfered surround with irregular-block jambs and a lintel carved with "RF" and the date "1705," flanked by coats of arms; the carving is double. Windows in the outer bays have wide, irregular wooden lintels and are partly blocked, with two-light horizontal sliding sashes inserted over painted rendered sills. A rendered lintel sits above the window over the door. A lower, two-storey, three-bay extension stands to the right. This extension was formerly an agricultural building and now features a C20 porch on its left side. The ground floor of the extension has one fixed light and two horizontal sliding sashes with projecting stone sills under inserted lintels. The first floor has a horizontal sliding sash above the door, and a vent slit under a wide, irregular wooden lintel to the right.

Inside the main house, the open-well staircase features a wide grip handrail on fat twist- and-urn balusters, with panelled newels, some with flat caps, and a moulded closed string. A parallel balustrade runs along the outer wall and across the landing, though some balusters are missing, and it continues across a blocked landing window. One ground-floor room has a chamfered fire-beam with a heck-post; a bread-oven and stone fire surround have been inserted. A salt cupboard is located in the inglenook on the gable wall, and a blocked fire window is in the front wall, both with rough wood lintels. It is reported that a plain stone fire surround is concealed behind a C20 fireplace in the left ground-floor room. The left first-floor room has painted panels on the gable wall, now concealed by a false wall but depicting men with guns in fields of corn-stooks, and a pagoda-like building. The ground-floor rooms have tongue-and-groove boarded ceilings.

The interior of the right-hand house features large, irregular beams; a low, wide, irregular opening in the rear wall is under a rough wood lintel. Two wide arches from a former cart-shed have been incorporated into the house.