Roscoe Lowe Farmhouse

Roscoe Lowe Farmhouse is a farmhouse built in two phases, dated 1683 and 1759, with earlier fabric incorporated into the older section, now used as a store. It is constructed of squared sandstone with quoins, and has stone slate roofs. The building has an L-shaped plan, formed by the addition of the 1759 section at right angles to the west gable of the earlier building. The later section is two storeys high and symmetrical, with three bays, except where it overlaps the gable of the older part. It features gable chimneys, a central doorway with a simple moulded architrave, and two windows on the ground floor and three above. The upper windows are relatively large with splayed stone heads, with the upper floor windows being 3-, 2- and 3-lights with chamfered flush mullions, while the ground floor windows have been altered to 2-light top-hung casements. A lintel above the 2-light window above the doorway at the first floor is inscribed with “0 S M 1759,” referring to Samuel Oldknow. The left gable has a 2-light attic window, formerly mullioned. The rear elevation has a round-headed three-stage stairlight with chamfered transoms and central mullion, and a small ground floor window below. The right gable has an attic window similar to the one on the left gable, and is mostly obscured by a lean-to addition. The older part of the building is two bays wide and was considerably altered in the 18th century, appearing to have been raised and cased in stone. The south side has a blocked doorway in the centre, three-light chamfered flush-mullion windows on the ground and first floors to the right, an altered window on the first floor to the left, and a small square window at first floor level near the junction, lighting a staircase. The north side has a large single-storey gabled porch, now altered to a washhouse, with a gable incorporating a worn datestone lettered ‘F’ in relief, along with doorways and windows of 1683 on both sides of the porch. Another doorway and an altered 3-light window are located above. The interior of the older part includes a timber-framed partition with remains of a cruck blade at ground floor of the north end, and in the first bay – accessible from the porch – a structure possibly used as an inglenook. Historically, Samuel Oldknow operated a putting-out system in the local textile industry from this house before later developing a spinning mill at Mellor.