Lowerhouse Farmhouse

Farmhouse: A mid-16th century farmhouse with an early 17th century facade and later 17th and 18th century brick repairs. The construction is primarily English garden wall bond red brick with buff sandstone dressings, incorporating some timber framing. The roof is covered in Kerridge stone-slates, with a stone ridge, two gable brick chimneys, and a substantial stone lateral chimney featuring two diamond brick stacks. The house follows an H-plan design.

The front elevation is two storeys and three bays, with the end bays projecting slightly under gables. Features include a chamfered stone plinth, moulded bands at the first and second floors, and stone quoins. The left-hand bay has a tall, rebated, five-light chamfered stone mullioned window, with the band rising to form a hood mould. Adjacent to this is a four-centred arched doorcase, containing a 20th century studded door. Above the doorcase is a similar three-light window, and a two-light window in the gable, also with a flat hood. The right-hand end bay is characterized by irregular brickwork and three-light wooden casements set under cambered brick heads. The central bay features two five-light rebated chamfered stone mullioned windows, divided by a stone pier with continuous moulding above on both floors. The windows have a mixture of original and applied lattice lead glazing. The right-hand side of the building is predominantly timber framed, displaying close studding with a middle rail below and chevroning above, and containing a blocked six-light wooden diamond mullioned window. The rear elevation exhibits simpler timber framing, along with brick repairs and the large stone chimney stack.

Inside, the main doorway opens into a near-screens passage. A hall to the right contains a large stone inglenook fireplace with a cambered, chamfered firebeam, and three niches for candles. The ceiling features weakly ovolo-moulded beams. An adjacent room has an altered corner fireplace and a simply chamfered beam. The parlour to the left of the passage has a firebeam formed of a cluster of bead moulds on a similarly moulded post, with a deeply chamfered ceiling beam. Timber-framed partition walls are found throughout, alongside trusses consisting of a tiebeam and two diagonal struts.