Ryal Farmhouse

Ryal Farmhouse is a large farmhouse dating to the 17th century, with additions likely made in the late 18th century. It is constructed of sandstone rubble with quoins, and has a tiled roof with gable copings and kneelers. A substantial double chimney stack rises from the ridge at the meeting point of the first and second bays, and a smaller chimney is positioned behind the ridge where the second and third bays join.

The building follows an F-plan, incorporating a projecting wing to the front of the first bay, a projecting porch between the second and third bays, an added outshut to the front of the wing, filling the re-entrant angle, and a rear outshut to the third bay. The farmhouse is two and a half storeys high, presenting two gables to the front. The gabled porch has a moulded, round-headed doorway with rusticated voussoirs and a hoodmould. Above the doorway is a recessed mullioned window composed of three round-headed lights with hollow spandrels, also under a hoodmould, and a blocked round-headed light within a chamfered surround in the gable. The third bay features a simple doorway at ground floor; otherwise, the walls generally display original double-chamfered stone mullion windows with hoodmoulds, largely unaltered. A blocked round-headed light and a double-light window, both under a single hoodmould, are visible on the left return wall, along with a two-light stair window and two-light windows on each floor above, and two small windows. The right return wall has a blocked round-headed light and an altered window under one hoodmould at ground floor. Above are blocked windows of three and two lights on each floor (the lower floor missing one mullion).

The rear elevation features a lengthened king-mullioned window of three plus two lights, a two-light firewindow, and a four-light parlour window, all grouped under one stepped hoodmould. Two three-light windows are located at first floor, all with small-paned glazing bars in the heads. The front outshut exhibits remnants of flush-mullioned multiple lights and may have previously functioned as a loom shop.

Inside the main farmhouse, large chamfered stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are present. Above a former doorway at the lower end is a lobed moulded plaster plaque bearing the initials “I.W. E.” (John and Elizabeth Walmsley), and the date 1676. The parlour contains a stone fireplace with a moulded Tudor-arched surround. Adjacent to the parlour is a timber-framed enclosure containing a stone staircase with quarter-turn treads to the left and right. A stone fireplace with an elaborately but crudely moulded plaster chimney piece, including two angels, is found within the chamber above the parlour.

The Ryal estate was purchased by William Walmsley, father of John, in 1660. The farmhouse bears a resemblance to Higher Hill farmhouse, believed to have been the residence of John’s brother Ralph.