Townhead

This is a house, likely an early 18th century mansion that has been reduced in size and altered in the 19th century. It is constructed of squared coursed limestone with sandstone dressings, and has a hipped roof covered in stone slate. The south facade has five bays, with projecting quoins and a ground-floor string course. The windows are sash windows with glazing bars, set within architraves. Two windows to the left of the entrance have been moved to stand adjacent to each other. The large stone doorcase features Tuscan pilasters, a triglyph frieze with guttae and metopes decorated with flower designs, and a pediment. A deeply-moulded stone cornice runs along the eaves.

The west wall is pebbledashed, with shaped stone brackets supporting the stone soffit of the eaves. The east wall is similar, with projecting quoins, a ground-floor string course, and a moulded stone cornice. It also has five bays, with ground-floor windows that have been altered and are now paired. The central doorway on this wall has Tuscan pilasters and a semi-circular head with a stepped projecting keystone.

The north wall is pebbledashed, with projecting quoins and a stone eaves soffit carried on shaped brackets. It has six bays, with sash windows featuring glazing bars in plain stone surrounds. A timber and rendered brick porch, with a timber shell hood and clustered wooden columns, is situated between bays two and three.

Adjoining the west wall is a two-story, L-shaped wing containing the kitchen and other service rooms. The north wall of this wing has a single bay with a ground-floor doorway whose plain stone surround extends to form a stair window with a single transom and glazing bars. The east wall of the wing has two bays and windows with plain stone surrounds and square mullions. The mullions divide the windows into two lights, except for the left-hand ground-floor window which has three lights.

The interior appears to have been remodelled in the mid-19th century, with the front entrance moved from the south facade to the north. The main rooms are panelled in a Georgian style. A two-flight open-well staircase, with an open string and three turned balusters per tread, is located in the center of the south side of the house. The stair hall extends through the third storey and features a decorated cornice and blank niches with architraves.

A drawing dated approximately 1720, titled ‘Slateburn Town Head The Seat of Mr Hen Wiglesworth to the South,’ depicts a larger house in a similar style, but with a different number of bays and storeys than the current building.