Building to west of White House Farm, Raby

Building to the west of White House Farm, Raby

A small one-and-a-half-storey cottage of mixed construction and complex building history. The building appears originally to have been a timber-framed cottage with a single room on each floor. It was extended to the north through the addition of a red sandstone extension, probably in the 18th century, and subsequently encased in a mixture of red sandstone and brick (the dominant building materials on the Wirral in the 18th and 19th centuries), before finally being rendered. The original thatch roof was replaced by a corrugated tin roof in the mid-20th century. Two ridge stacks visible in a photograph believed to date to the early 1900s have since been lost.

The building now has a two-room plan on each floor, with rooms at the north and south ends. The north ground-floor room was separated into two, probably in the 19th century.

The west elevation shows a section of large panel timber framing to the southern half, with later brick infill (some rendered), stone quoining, and two ground-floor windows with tile sills and rendered lintels. The northern half is of coursed, dressed sandstone composed of large blocks interspersed with smaller snecks, incorporating a ground-floor window. All windows on this elevation are boarded over externally, though multipaned wrought-iron framed windows are visible internally.

The east elevation has a southern half of random rubblestone with a small section of brickwork above a 19th-century plank and batten door with a replaced lintel. The northern half is of dressed sandstone with a multipaned wrought-iron window to the ground floor with a tile sill, and a narrow window opening below the eaves that appears to have formed part of a dormer window. Remnants of whitewash survive to both halves.

The gabled south elevation is fully rendered and incorporates a multipaned wrought-iron window to the ground floor and a four-light timber casement window to the first floor, both boarded over externally. An early 20th-century photograph shows visible timbers to the gable apex along with what appear to be either two corbels or the ends of side purlins, though these are no longer visible and it is unclear whether they survive beneath the render.

The gabled north elevation is of sandstone to the lower part and later brickwork to the upper part, with a probable mid-20th-century red-brick wall stack to the centre. A four-light timber casement window is present to the upper floor to the right, boarded over externally.

Internally, walls are plastered throughout. The dividing wall between the two large ground-floor rooms has 17th-century wattle and daub infill panels underneath. Floors are of tile and floorboard, with some lath and plaster ceilings. Early three and four plank and batten doors survive, along with a later plank and batten door leading into the small room created in the north-east corner of the ground floor.

Timber framing is visible to the north wall of the south rooms on each floor where plaster has been lost. The south ground-floor room contains a large stone fireplace to the south wall and two substantial beams running east-west, one of which appears to be chamfered. The north ground-floor room contains two substantial chamfered beams running north-south and a chimneybreast to the north wall with fireplace removed and rendered over.

A later timber stair set alongside the east wall of the south ground-floor room, with a plain newel post, wide stick balusters to the lower part and an enclosed upper section, leads to the upper-floor rooms, which have later inserted ceilings.

Parts of the roof have been boarded and some visible rafters appear to have been replaced. Roof trusses cannot be seen, but early braces and substantial side purlins are visible in the south room, which also contains a chimneybreast. The north room contains a chimneybreast with partly exposed stonework and a late 19th-century cast-iron fireplace.