Middle Moss And Higher Moss Farmhouse

Middle Moss and Higher Moss Farmhouse is a farmhouse that likely dates back to the early 17th century. It was extended and divided into two houses in the 18th century. The building is constructed from sandstone rubble with a low plinth and quoins, featuring coursed watershot sandstone in diminishing courses. It has a stone slate roof with two chimneys on the ridge and one chimney at each end.

Originally, the farmhouse had a three-bay through-passage plan, with the third bay projecting as a short gabled wing. It was altered by adding one bay at the left end and equally dividing the structure into Middle Moss on the left and Higher Moss on the right. Both sections are two stories tall.

Middle Moss features various altered casements and a simple doorway in the first bay. Higher Moss has mostly double-chamfered stone mullion windows and a passage that connects a wide porch entrance, which has a plain timber lintel, on the left of the gable to a two-storey porch at the rear. The front (east) of Higher Moss now has mullioned windows only at the first floor, with two three-light windows to the left, one four-light window in the gable, and a blocked two-light window in the re-entrant. The rear (west) has an added two-storey lean-to porch that contains a wide doorway (partly blocked) with a large Tudor-arched stone lintel, and a small two-light window under the eaves. To the left of this doorway is a four-light window on each floor, and to the right is a five-light window, of which two lights are anciently blocked, with one exposed light from a five-light window at the first floor, both partly covered by the porch.

Inside, the passage has a partition wall made of posts, rail, and scored studs, with two doorways, one of which is now blocked and features a nicked Tudor-arched lintel. The housepart includes a large inglenook with a heckpost, ovolo-moulded beams, and cyma-stopped chamfered joists. The rear porch has a spiral stone staircase, and there is some timber framing on the first floor. At the time of the survey, Higher Moss was unoccupied and used for storage.