Shenstone House And Associated Stable, Pig Sty And Cart Shed

Shenstone House and Associated Stable, Pig Sty and Cart Shed, Over Kellet

Shenstone House is an early 19th-century two-storey suburban house with basement and attics, overlooking Over Kellet village green. The architect is unknown. It is accompanied by associated outbuildings: a stable, pig sty, and cart shed. The whole is built in stone with stone dressings beneath slate roofs.

The main house is rectangular in plan with a rear outshot. The front elevation is executed in understated Georgian style and has a chamfered plinth. It is of dressed stone with three bays and a centrally-placed six-panelled door beneath a narrow rectangular light. The door surround is recessed with a moulded cornice above the lintel. Sash windows have glazing bars with eight over eight panes. Window surrounds have long and short stones to either side and plain sills and lintels. Long and short quoins appear at either end of the front elevation. Both gables are plain and are of snecked stone with gable stacks and kneelers.

The rear elevation is part rendered and has an off-centre lower two-storey outshot. A rear door to the house with plain stone surround is positioned on the south side of the outshot. Windows and surrounds are similar to the front elevation, though the ground floor window is of ten over ten panes. A chimney stack stands at the junction of the house's rear elevation and outshot. On the north side of the outshot, sash windows are of six over six panes with plain stone surrounds.

A low stone-built garden wall fronts the house, topped by chamfered stone coping.

The outshot is of more rustic design than the main house and is of two builds, consisting of a combination of snecked stone and random rubble with some brick, and has been partially rendered. The north elevation has a six-panelled door with windows of five over four panes to the ground floor and four over four panes to the upper floor, both with plain stone surrounds. A small ground floor window appears at the left end. The south elevation is part-rendered and at its western end has a long stone lintel at first floor level supported by a thin tall stone upright. A small window appears in the upper floor of the later addition. This addition is carried over a narrow passageway and adjoins the stable.

The stable's front elevation faces south and consists of four doorways (one blocked), a small ground floor window, and a threshing door and window to the upper floor. Narrow ventilation slots appear to both floors. The gable end has two small windows to the ground floor and an owl hole in the top of the wall. The north elevation has two small windows to the ground floor and a short flight of steps giving access to a door into the upper floor. The stable is roofless.

The pig sty is a two-storey building beneath a pitched roof with rear outshot containing an earth closet. It has been recently modernised. Two former pig sties are accessed by doors in the front elevation. A small window appears in the upper floor. Access to the upper floor is via a door at the top of external stone steps on the rear elevation.

The cart shed is a recently modernised single-storey former cart shed with a wide rectangular entrance on the north elevation, retaining iron hinges on which former doors hung.

Interior

The ground floor consists of a central hallway with front and rear rooms to either side. The main staircase is located at the rear end of the hallway. The left side contains a back hall leading into the outshot, with a former servant's staircase ascending from it. The main open well stair leads to a landing from which there are three front bedrooms, a rear bedroom, and a rear bathroom. Outside the bathroom is a small landing from which the servant's staircase leads to the attic. Two attic rooms exist: one accessed directly by the servant's staircase, the other via a narrow crawl off the side of this staircase.

Many early features remain in situ, particularly on the ground floor: the nine-panelled front door, six-panelled doors to all rooms with moulded architraves and panelled recesses, moulded deep skirting boards, sash windows with functioning window shutters, moulded coving (particularly elaborate in the front right room), panelled cupboard doors, a painted stone fire surround, timber panelling to the servant's staircase, and a well-executed timber main staircase with square newel posts, decorative tread ends, and hexagonal balusters with square ends. The upper floor retains many of these features and also includes a stained glass roof light above the stairwell and a cast iron fire surround and hob grate.

The outshot contains a former kitchen and pantry on the ground floor with two former bedrooms above. Although largely reroofed, it retains some early doors and windows and a cast iron fire surround and hob grate. The outshot's outside WC is located in the ground floor passageway between the outshot and stable.

The stable is derelict but contains a single-storey internal lean-to within its east end.

The pig sty has been modernised with a concrete floor to the ground floor and new floor timbers to the first floor, now used as a woodshed. The upper floor has small alcoves or open cupboards in the gable wall. The rear earth closet has a double timber seat, one latterly covered over.

The cart shed has been modernised with a concrete floor laid and is used for storage.

History

Shenstone House is thought to date to 1820–30 and appears on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1847. The architect is unknown. In the Lancaster district, some houses located in rural areas were almost certainly built as country houses for merchants whose town houses were in Lancaster during the period when the port and town prospered through West Indies trading. Shenstone House is thought to be an example of this type. During the 19th century, a later building was added to the rear of the kitchen outshot, largely infilling a gap between the house and stable at first floor level but maintaining a narrow passageway between the two buildings at ground floor level. The house has remained largely unchanged for many years but has recently changed ownership and is currently undergoing modernisation.