Lower House Fold Farmhouse With Adjoining Barn At Sd 616 204

The Lower House Fold Farmhouse, originally dated 1692 (although the datestone is now worn), stands alongside an attached barn. The farmhouse is constructed from coursed squared sandstone with quoins, topped by a slate roof and featuring brick gable chimneys. It follows a two-bay end-baffle-entry plan, with a later rear outshut addition. The two-storey farmhouse has a doorway at the right-hand end, ornamented with a hoodmould over a rectangular lintel. Above the doorway and to the left is the worn datestone, initially readable as 1692. The ground floor has two windows, each with a hoodmould and originally containing 4 recessed lights with mullions, now replaced with 2-light casements. The first floor mirrors this with two altered 2-light windows, a blocked round-headed window in between, and an inserted window above the doorway. The left-hand gable wall features a 2-light window with a chamfered mullion at ground floor, another window above with a hoodmould, and a blocked round-headed attic light, also with a hoodmould. The outshut incorporates a chamfered flush mullion 2-light window at first floor, and a rear entrance door. Inside, a notable inglenook fireplace is present, featuring a chamfered bressummer with two stop-chamfered beams supported by the bressummer.

Attached to the west end is a barn built of coursed rubble, and which was undergoing conversion to residential use at the time of survey in 1985. Inside the barn is a full cruck truss of substantial size, distinguished by its steeply-cambered tie-beam and finely-carpentered arch braces forming a continuous rounded arch with a chamfered soffit. The purpose of this unusual structure is unknown; it bears a rough resemblance to a truss found within the former Radcliffe Tower, as illustrated in Whitaker's History of Whalley. The farmhouse’s history remains largely unknown but may be linked to Stanlaw Abbey, which acquired lands in Heapey, Withnell, and Wheelton during the 13th century, along with a mill pool and mill stream. The site is close to the remains of a mill on Brinscall Brook and within an area known as Monks Hill in Wheelton.