1-5, Eldwick Beck

House, formerly three cottages, built around 1650, with 20th-century alterations. The building is constructed in dressed, partly coursed stone under a stone slate roof with one surviving ridge stack, stone dressings, and some quoins.

Plan

Each cottage is a single cell, two-storey unit originally standing under its own roof, now joined together with some internal subdivisions.

Exterior

The front (south) elevation displays, from left to right: a 4-light window with one stone mullion (probably originally three), two doors, a 4-light stone-mullioned window, a door, and a 3-light stone-mullioned window. The first floor has, from left to right, a 4-light window, a single-light window above the middle door, and two 4-light stone-mullioned windows. All mullions are flat-faced, and door surrounds are formed from single narrow stones. Quoining is visible between the right-hand (end) and middle cottages. At the left end, where the cottages attach to a later building, the remains of a former chimney stack stand against the gable end wall of the adjoining building, which encroaches over the cottage at roof level.

The rear (north) elevation is cut into rising ground at its right end. Windows are irregularly distributed across ground and first floors; none have stone mullions, all being wooden casements. Heavy quoins mark the junction between the end and middle cottages, and on the corner of the end cottage. The stonework of the right-hand cottage shows indications of a former first-floor opening, possibly a doorway.

The gable end has a small first-floor single-light window and one 3-light stone-mullioned window at ground floor. To the right, a 21st-century door and window with stone infill replace a 20th-century garage entrance.

Interior

The end cell at ground floor is divided into two rooms, each with external doors and a connecting door to the adjacent room. The gable-end window is mullioned but not original. The middle cell is undivided at ground floor and has a single chamfered spine beam. A fireplace stands against the wall to the end cell, with a stone slab surround and a vertical chimney breast without a mantel; a wooden beam sits above the fire surround. A wooden dog-leg staircase to the rear has a small stair window and a lobby to the front door, which also connects to the next cell. The left-hand cell is subdivided: a larger front room contains a large spine beam with mortises for former joists and an irregular chamfer. A fireplace against the back wall is similar to the other but non-functioning. A small rear room has a stone stair to a half-landing occupied by a toilet with a small rear window. Various timber fragments appear in both room walls, including double lintel beams above the original front window.

The first floor is served by a single staircase leading to three bedrooms and a bathroom; a further bedroom and en-suite are accessed through the middle room. The front end bedroom has a non-functioning fireplace on the gable end wall; the left end bedroom contains the same. Closets in each end cell correspond in shape and size to the stair space in the middle cell. Other timber fragments and double lintel beams appear in front windows.

The roof space is divided into three sections with no trusses; each side has two purlins and common rafters throughout. All rafters are 20th-century, with lining between rafters and slates. The end cell has 20th-century purlins; the middle and left-hand cells contain a mix of 20th-century and 17th- or 18th-century purlins. The end and middle cells have 20th-century steel ties between the upper purlins to prevent spread; the middle and left-hand cells have struts at intervals.

History

The cottages are first documented in the Bingley Parish Book, 1653–1694, following the Poor Law Act of 1601 and local Quarter Sessions enactments of 1638, which required parishes to provide for their poor. They were built as almshouses for the deserving poor of the parish, at rents varying according to need. They remained in the ownership of Bingley Township until at least 1865. A map of 1817 shows them as Eldwick Beck cottages in a survey and valuation of the Township and Parish of Bingley for the Relief of the Poor, ordered by Justices at Wakefield Quarter Sessions. A further valuation of 1865 lists them (plots 336, 337, and 338) as township property. A plan of 1908 also shows the three cottages. The date of their sale and conversion to a single property is unknown, but extensive works were carried out in the 1980s, including the insertion of roof ties to counter spread and other consolidation work. The windows on the north side all appear to postdate an early photograph showing two small sash windows at first floor, with a possible mullioned window near the outer end; the ground floor is obscured by the rise in ground level.

Setting

Eldwick Beck, which runs through the grounds to the east, shows evidence in stone-built channels and leats of its former use as a mill stream, feeding a spinning mill that stood to the south and operated for most of the 19th century.