Sykehouse With Attached Outbuildings

Sykehouse with attached outbuildings is a house that was formerly a farmhouse and metalworkers forge, dating from around 1800, with near-contemporary additions and a later 19th-century extension. It was further altered and refurbished in 1998. The building is constructed of coursed squared and rubble sandstone with quoins, featuring a single brick stack on the house gable, and is topped with Welsh slate and stone slate roof coverings.

The structure is a linear complex situated on a sloping site, aligned from northeast to southwest. It includes an original single-cell house at the upper end, a former stable or cowhouse in the center, and a former forge at the lower end.

The front elevation has a two-storey section with an original entrance framed by a massive stone surround. To the left, there is a former three-light flush mullioned window, now fitted with 20th-century casements. Above this, a two-light window has been raised to break the eaves and now features a flat roof. The central former outbuilding has two doorways at different levels, both with monolithic surrounds, now fitted with 20th-century half-glazed doors. To the right is a single-storey former metalworkers forge, which has a doorway on the left and a three-light flush mullioned window on the right. Further to the right is a lower outbuilding with a lean-to against its gable.

Inside, the building has been extensively remodelled, but the former metalworkers forge still retains mullioned windows on three walls and two former hand forge hearths that are incorporated into the current kitchen area.

Historically, the rural economy of South Yorkshire and North-East Derbyshire, particularly around Sheffield, was characterized in the 18th and 19th centuries by a combination of agriculture and metalworking on the same site. This example, with its surviving hearths and architecturally distinctive workshop, represents a rare survival of this historical practice.