Silk Hall Farmhouse The Manse

The Manse and Silk Hall Farmhouse are a pair of houses, originally a single house, dating to 1764, and formerly known as Silk Hall. They are constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with quoins. The roof is partly stone slates and partly felted, with kneeler details, one ridge chimney stack, and two gable chimneys. The front of the building faces south towards Long Lane. The original plan was a double-pile, three-bay design, with the third bay forming Silk Hall Farmhouse. A projecting three-storey gabled porch is positioned at the junction of the first and second bays. The porch has gable coping with kneelers, a plain doorway featuring massive dressed jambs and lintel, the lintel inscribed with a moulded panel "R S" and the date 1764. A tall first-floor window above the doorway is architraved, and the gable features a blocked circular oeil-de-boeuf window. A ground floor window is present on the right side wall of the porch. The building has three windows on each of its three floors; most have been altered, with the first-floor windows flanking the porch being square, and those above and to the right largely horizontal rectangular. The rear wall is rendered and features a round-headed stairlight and various altered windows. A flight of stone steps leads to a door in the top floor of the left gable wall. The interior of The Manse includes an original staircase with bracketed treads, an open string, paired turned balusters, and a ramped handrail. There are original doors with fielded panels. The top-floor workshop, originally open, is now partitioned between the second and third bays. A later staircase has been added leading into the workshop from the first floor of The Manse. The building was built by Ralph and Susannah Richardson as a residence and for Richardson's business as a silk merchant.