Hoyle Ing House

Hoyle Ing House is a two-storey stone dwelling with probable late 15th-century or early 16th-century origins, substantially rebuilt in the late 16th century and altered thereafter. The building is constructed of coursed slender sandstone 'bricks' with ashlar dressings and has a stone slate roof. A single-storey former dairy was added later, possibly in the 18th century.

Plan and Layout

The house forms a tall linear gabled range running north to south, with two rooms on each floor. At the northern end, the first floor remains open to the roof, while the southern end has been floored over and subdivided with partitioning to accommodate a bathroom and dressing room. The single-storey former dairy, with its own gable, is attached to the south gable end. A later, lower two-storey cottage is attached to the east side of the building but is in separate ownership and not included in the listing.

Exterior

Both the north and south gable ends feature apex coping stones decorated with relief symbols, with small finials rising behind them. A large central chimneystack with four diagonally-set flues sits at the centre of the ridge. All windows now have later replacement frames and glazing.

The south gable end displays a very large blocked-up nine-light window at first-floor level (the lower section visible internally within the former dairy). This window has a massive triangular lintel inscribed with the date 'AODNI 1588' and two sets of initials 'TL EL', possibly referring to the Leventhorpe family. An identical lintel exists at the north gable end above a first-floor window, though the window itself has been reduced to a smaller three-light mullioned opening.

The probable 18th-century former dairy is built in front of the south gable end, cutting across the lower part of the first-floor window. It has a large three-light mullioned window in its south gable wall. The dairy's west return contains a small square window and a blocked-up doorway now converted to a small window, whilst the east return has a later blocked-up doorway and a later inserted window.

The north gable end is understood to have been rebuilt around 2000. It has a later inserted doorway at ground-floor left and a three-light mullioned window to the right, which appears contemporary with the first-floor window above.

The west side elevation has several later single-light and two-light mullioned windows of varying sizes, all but one located at ground-floor level.

The east side elevation features a large ten-light mullioned and transomed window with diamond mullions at the northern end of the first floor. Below and to the right sits a small circular 'squint' with a triangular lintel, positioned between floor levels and suggesting it may once have lit a stair. At the southern end of the east elevation, the first floor has a massive nine-light mullioned and transomed window with diamond mullions and a triangular lintel; the top three lights have been blocked up. At ground-floor level below sits another triangular lintel of similar size above a narrower doorway with a modern replacement door. To the right is a later three-light mullioned window that appears contemporary with the adjacent altered opening and the later windows on the west elevation.

Interior

The interior has mainly stone flag floors and floorboards (the latter hidden under modern carpets) throughout, along with ceiling beams and timber window lintels with very wide chamfers and straight-cut stops. Back-to-back fireplaces at the centre of the building provide two fireplaces on each floor, heating the four main rooms. All but one fireplace (in the lounge, which has been rebuilt with its lintel replaced) have massive triangular stone lintels echoing those over the original exterior openings. One of the first-floor fireplaces is now hidden behind a modern partition wall in a bathroom.

Ground Floor

The north entrance leads into a large ground-floor room now used as a kitchen. This room has a replaced floor and a large timber 'y' post inserted as support beneath a substantial ceiling beam running north to south. The windows, like all the building's mullioned and mullioned and transomed windows, have diamond mullions internally, some covered with a modern resin finish. The kitchen's east wall includes a large blocked-up ground-floor window with a triangular lintel and later shelving incorporated into the window recess. To the left is a smaller square blocked-up opening. The fireplace is located in the south wall, with a square salt or spice box-style recess to its right.

A single low step to the left of the central stack accesses a narrow passageway along the eastern wall leading through to the southern ground-floor room, now a lounge. Like the kitchen, the lounge has a substantial north-south ceiling beam and visible early chamfered floor joists. A doorway at the northern end of the lounge's east wall has been blocked up and converted into a recess, but its large triangular stone lintel survives, along with the remains of the upper section of a Tudor-arched timber door frame.

An enclosed main stair lies in the south-west corner of the lounge, with a later handrail and modern rail balustrade on the first-floor landing. Underneath the stair is a cupboard with a probable 17th-century plank and batten door.

A doorway with a stone architrave and replaced door in the lounge's south wall accesses a flight of stone steps leading down into a small cellar beneath the later dairy. The cellar has a barrel-vaulted ceiling, stone-flag floor, and stone shelving. A two-light diamond-mullioned window exists in the cellar's south wall, and a shallow spring-water well is set into the floor.

A later doorway to the right of the cellar entrance in the lounge's south wall accesses a short flight of stone steps leading up into the former dairy. The south gable end of the main range is visible within the dairy and includes a massive triangular stone lintel over a now blocked-up opening (possibly originally a window) that has been altered to accommodate the internal doorway into the dairy. Above the lintel are the three blocked-up lower lights of the first-floor south window, the lintel of which is visible externally. What appears to be a stepped cheese press or shelving storage is attached in front of this wall. The north-west corner of the former dairy has been converted into a small shower room.

First Floor

The first floor has a passageway along the west wall adjacent to the central stack, providing access to the northern room (now a bedroom), which is open to the roof with visible side purlins and a large pegged king-post truss with angled struts. A small 20th-century mezzanine has been inserted at the southern end of the room above the fireplace, accessed by a ladder stair. A cupboard has been inserted into the chimneybreast at mezzanine level. At the southern end of the room's east wall is a doorway with a timber lintel incorporating an incredibly wide chamfer with straight-cut stops, which would originally have accessed a now-lost east wing, possibly a hall range.

The first floor's southern room (now a bedroom) has been floored over and partitioned to create a bathroom and dressing room and to accommodate a mid to late 20th-century stair leading up to the attic level. The bedroom is lit by the six lower lights of the large mullioned and transomed window visible externally on the east elevation.

Attic

The attic level has a mid to late 20th-century king-post truss, replaced side purlins, and two rooflights. The timber lintel and three blocked-up upper lights of the mullioned and transomed east window are visible in the attic's east wall.