Lower Ashes Farmhouse And Attached Gate Piers

This is a large farmhouse dating from 1610, with alterations made in the 18th century. It is constructed of large dressed stone with a stone slate roof. The house follows a double-pile plan with a 3-room through-passage layout.

The south front has five linear divisions, all featuring double-chamfered mullioned windows. The first division contains a 4-light window, with a similar window above (missing two mullions). The second division features a 5-light window, with a 4-light window above, and two inserted 2-light windows (20th century) on either side, designed to be in keeping with the original style. The third division originally had a 3-light window. The fourth division has a doorway with chamfered jambs and an altered lintel dated 1610, above which is a 2-light chamfered mullioned window. The fifth division has a 6-light window with a 6-light chamfered mullioned window above. There are three stacks to the ridge, one to each gable which is coped with kneelers and a ball finial, and another positioned behind the through passage.

The north front is characterized by a 5-light window with a 6-light chamfered mullioned window above. A doorway with a cyma moulded surround has an inscribed tablet above, inset within a deeply moulded surround, reading "A C M." The tablet relates to Anthony and Mary Crossley of Scaitcliffe Hall, an 18th-century family. A 5-light window, a 4-light chamfered mullioned window above (lacking two mullions), a 3-light window, and a blocked taking-in door with stop-chamfered cyma-moulded surround follow. A 5-light window (lacking two mullions) with a 4-light chamfered window above (lacking two mullions) completes the front. The west gable has an extruded stack with numerous offsets.

Attached to either end of the house are stone walls with dressed capping stones, ramping to a shaped gable on the west side, below a doorway. To the east, tall gate piers are topped with rusticated quoins, an entablature, a deeply moulded cornice, and ball finials.

Internally, the through passage has a doorway from the north side, forming an inner porch with a cyma-moulded surround. Two doors with chamfered surrounds lead to the east, and one to the west leads into a passage. To the north is a room with a small, segmental arched fireplace. To the south, a larger, segmental arched fireplace has a cyma-moulded surround and joggled skewbacks. A doorway with a straight lintel and chamfered surround leads from the housebody into a parlour. The eastern chamber is a large room open to the roof, formerly used as a warehouse connected with textile manufacture, and contains a fireplace with stop-chamfered jambs.

This is an important example of a cloth merchant’s house dating from the mid-18th century.