The World Bird Research Station

GLANTON FRONT STREET NU 0714 (North side) Glanton Village 21/199 The World Bird Research Station 31.12.69 (previously listed as No. 14) GV II*

House, 1796 for Richard Hatkin, with earler C18 rear wing; west extension probably mid-C19. Front tooled-and-margined ashlar; returns and rear squared stone of near-ashlar quality. West extension tooled stone with tooled-and- margined dressings; rear wing rubble with large squared quoins and dressings. Lakeland slate roof, except for Welsh slates on rear wing and west extension.

Main house 2 storeys, 3 bays, symmetrical. Plinth, sill bands. Central 6-panel door under moulded hood on corbels; 12-pane sash windows. Eaves cornice. Coped gables with moulded kneelers; stepped-and-corniced end stacks. Set back to left, single-storey 1-bay extension with 1910 3-light mullioned window and stepped-and-corniced end stack.

Right return shows 12-pane sash windows and 6-pane attic sash; set back to right a single-storey 2-bay rear wing with renewed door and 12-pane Yorkshire sashes; attached pent closet on far right. Rear arched stair window: 12-pane sash with intersecting glazing bars in head.

Interior: Fielded-panel doors, folding panelled shutters. Good fireplaces with contemporary ironwork. Arch to stair hall; open-well stair with 2 stick balusters per tread, ramped moulded handrail, moulded newels and carved tread ends. Rear wing has set pot and adjacent tiled bath.

Historical notes: Formerly known as The Mansion, or Hatkin House; according to local legend the elderly owner built the house so that the prospect of inheriting it would entice a young woman to marry him. The first Bird Research Station in Britain was founded here in 1930; the house contains much apparatus and equipment used in early ornithological research, and is intended to open as a museum in 1987. Graded for historical interest.

Listing NGR: NU0706814510