Close Head House And Adjoining Barn

Close Head House and the adjoining barn, dated 1857, is a two-storey, three-bay villa with a service wing, likely a recasing of an earlier farmhouse, and includes a barn to the north-east. This type of villa design from this period is uncommon in the area. The building is constructed from thin sandstone "bricks" with ashlar quoins and dressings, topped with a stone slate roof featuring a moulded eaves cornice. It has flanking chimneys with bracketed cornices and a symmetrical south front. The central first-floor sash window is set in a rusticated surround, flanked by two-storey pilastered canted bay windows. The pilastered doorway features a dated frieze and moulded cornice, with an impost moulding at the spring of the fanlight arch. The barn, which is set back, has a stone slate roof and a segmental archway. Close Head House is prominently situated on a terrace that overlooks the valley below Thornton.