Ashes Farmhouse

This is a farmhouse dating from the 17th and early 18th centuries, and it has been altered over time. It is constructed of whitewashed handmade brick and white concrete brick, with stone quoins, and has a slate roof. The building has a square plan, consisting of an early 18th-century three-bay front range with a rear wing to the right, which in turn embraces a similar but older wing to the rear of the left half.

The two-story facade was recently rebuilt in white concrete brick and features a symmetrical design. A notable feature is the doorway with large long-and-short jambstones, a moulded surround, and a large stepped tympanum. This tympanum contains a carving of a head with draped wings and crude scrollwork, all set within a triangular frame; this may be a posthumous representation of Edmund Threlfall, who lived at the farm and was involved in the Lancashire Plot of 1689 and was killed there in 1690. There are two cross windows at ground floor level and three above, all with modern casements in stone surrounds. The right return wall, and both wings, have a high stone plinth. Blocked rectangular windows are visible with plain projecting architraves, with one modern window on each floor of the return wall. A glazed porch and a single-storey extension embrace the rear corner.

The rear gable wall of the older wing has remains of a stepped label over a modern window at ground floor. Above this is a recessed 7-light wooden mullion window, mostly rendered over, but with geometrical leaded glazing visible in two lights, similar to that found at Wood Fold Farmhouse. A full-height segmental-headed stairlight with a keystone, partly blocked, is located near the junction of the wings. Chimneys are situated at the junction of the wings with the front range.

Inside, the ground floor rooms are unusually high, and the internal walls are said to be 1½ metres thick, containing cavities that could hide several people and the remains of a stack. From the late 16th to the mid-18th centuries, the farmhouse was the home of the recusant Threlfall family. Other farmhouses in the parish with comparable history include Blake Hall, Bullsnape Hall, White Hill and White Lee farmhouses.