Sandhoe High House

House. Dating to the 17th century, Sandhoe High House was remodelled and extended around 1740, with a rear outshut added in the 18th century. It is constructed of roughly-squared stone with cut quoins and dressings, and has a graduated Lakeland slate roof. The house is two storeys and six bays, with the fourth bay slightly projecting and featuring a full-height, three-window semicircular bow. A sill string runs along the bow and the bays to the right. To the left of the bow, a six-panel door sits in a bolection-moulded surround, with flanking and over-lights framed by reset 18th-century dressings. A reset broken scrolled pediment with a central finial sits above the overlight. To the right of the bow, a six-panel door is contained within a 19th-century moulded surround. There are twelve-pane sash windows with heavy glazing bars, except for the fifteen-pane sashes on the ground floor of the bow (whose sills were lowered in the 19th century). All windows are set within architraves, and the first-floor centre window of the bow has a pedimented hood on consoles. Traces of earlier windows are visible in the left bays. The roof is hipped to the right; the left gable has a coped gable with moulded kneelers and a rendered stack. A stepped ridge stack features conjoined shafts and a modillion cornice.

The left return displays a twelve-pane sash window in a raised stone surround, and a shortened nine-pane attic sash in a stone surround. There are blocked central slits to the lower floors. The outshut to the left has four-pane casements in architraves. A similar window is visible on the far left, within a blocked, chamfered door surround in a narrow link to High House West. The rear elevation shows a projecting stair wing with a twelve-pane sash window in a raised stone surround on the left return.

The interior retains contemporary plaster cornices and fireplaces, with early 19th-century grates and ironwork. There are fielded-panelled doors with old hinges and panelled shutters. An open-well cut-string stair has stick balusters, moulded newels, and a ramped moulded handrail, while a contemporary servants’ stair is located in the adjacent outshut. The roof features trusses with two collars, two levels of purlins, and a ridge. The steeply-pitched roofline of the original 17th-century house, possibly originally thatched, is visible on the west side of the central stack. Walls of the 17th-century section are 0.80 to 1.00 metre thick.