Machpelah House

BUILDING: Machpelah House, a private residence, dates to c.1842.

MATERIALS: dressed coursed millstone grit in diminishing courses with stone slate roof.

PLAN: built on ground sloping steeply up to the rear (east), ground floor at the rear is at first floor level to the front (west). The ground floor/basement was formerly a coach house, with main living quarters on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor. There is a ridge chimney stack at either gable end, the northern one bearing a date of 1842.

EXTERIOR: the front (west) elevation has the former coach house entrance with a basket arch now a half-glazed door and windows to the ground floor right. The central main entrance at first floor level is approached up a flight of stone stairs forming a bridge, and has a simple Gibbs surround. The wide half-glazed door has a rectangular overlight with stained glass depicting a viaduct. There are three second floor windows and a single first floor window to either side of the door, all six-over-six horned vertical sashes with stone lintels and cills. The rear elevation has an entrance to the left and a mix of windows, including two central windows with stained glass in margin lights. The right (south) side elevation has a window to the first and second floors similar to those at the front.

INTERIOR: the front door opens to a stone flagged hall and a cut string staircase on the right with a wooden handrail and wavy wooden balusters. The windows with stained glass margins are at the rear at first and second floor level. To right and left are reception rooms, that to the right with plasterwork ceiling and coving and original shutters and skirting, a Victorian fire grate, possibly introduced, and later fire surround and hearth. The left room is plainer, with shutters and an original fireplace with tiling. To the rear left is a smaller room and to the rear right a passage to the back door. Stairs lead down to the former coach house, now a kitchen. A stone-lined arched passage leads from beside the stairs to the rear. The second floor has two bedrooms to the front with bathroom and en-suite behind. The main bedroom to the right has shutters and a fireplace with white marble surround.