Outbuilding At Low Melwood Farm

SE 80 SW OWSTON FERRY EPWORTH ROAD SE 8060 0194 (east side, off)

12/136 Outbuilding at Low Melwood Farm

GV II

Former farmhouse, incorporating remains of Carthusian Priory and later houses; now farm outbuilding. C15-C16 origins, remodelled as house in later C16, partly rebuilt in 1680s, rebuilt in mid C19; partly demolished, lowered to single storey and converted to storehouse in 1960s. Brick, largely rendered and pebbledashed, with limestone ashlar dressings. Corrugated iron roof. L-shaped on plan: 2-room west wing (former house front) and 3-room south wing. Single storey with basement. Quoins. South side, in 2 builds, has slightly advanced section to right with chamfered plinth incorporating blocked ashlar square-headed basement opening and blocked C16 basket-arched chamfered door containing good ashlar relief tablet bearing Mowbray arms and mantled helm, reset in 1960s from above former west front door. Two C20 enlarged ground-floor openings to right with double board doors; blocked opening to left section with reused medieval ashlar mullion for sill. West side, obscured by C20 addition of no special interest, has remains of plinth, large inserted C20 openings. Interior. Ground-floor level approximately 1 metre above ground level, ground floor removed to west wing, cellar infilled to central south room, tiled floor to east room. South-west room contains blocked opening beneath chamfered segmental-pointed ashlar arch. Rooms contain traces of former late C18 - early C19 interior (arched alcove, fragments of plaster cornice). The height of the ground floor, and earlier descripions of the house, including reference to a stone pillar in the cellar, suggest that the building may incorporate a former medieval undercroft. Stands within a large moated enclosure. Excavations within the enclosure in 1968 revealed late medieval brick wall foundations. Low Melwood or Axholme Priory was founded in 1397-8 and dissolved in 1538. Scheduled Ancient Monument, County No 119. W Read, History of the Isle of Axholme, 1853, pp 317-8; Provisional List, 1960; N Pevsner and J Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1978, p 334. N Loughlin and K Miller, A Survey of Archaeological Sites in Humberside, 1979, pp 156-8.

Listing NGR: SE8060301947