Church Farmhouse And Attached Outbuilding

Church Farmhouse and Attached Outbuilding

This farmhouse with attached outbuilding, now used as farmhouse, cottage and shop, dates from the early 17th century, possibly incorporating a medieval core. It was greatly extended in 1699 with further alterations and additions in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

The building is constructed of rubble and ashlar sandstone, as well as red brick, partly with vitrified headers and partly rendered. It features stone quoins and stone dressings, with a stone plinth to the east elevation. The roof is of plain tile with moulded stone copings on plain kneelers and one brick coped gable to the north. The chimneys are notable: one brick ridge stack to the north, one large external brick stack to the south with large inset panels to the top, one large stepped external stone stack to the east made of massive stone blocks, and one 19th-century rendered brick stack to the north gable on the east elevation.

The building is two storeys plus attics and has a complex plan. The earliest range runs north-south to the east, with a large addition of 1699 to the west running east-west, which has two gabled bays to the south and a northern bay with gable facing north.

The west elevation is of brick, rendered to the first floor to two north bays. The ground floor has a 19th-century 2-light window with plain sashes to the north, a pair of double glazed doors under a 19th-century lintel to the centre, and a partly blocked and partly glazed opening under a 19th-century lintel to the south. Both central and southern openings are set in disturbed brickwork. Above are a plain sash to the north, a similar sash to the centre set slightly higher, and a 20th-century casement in the southern bay also in disturbed brickwork. Above again in the southern gable is a small glazing bar sash under a 19th-century stone lintel.

The south elevation is rendered to the east side and brickwork to the west, with a gabled crosswing to the east. The ground floor has an inserted stable door to the west and, beyond the external stack to the east, a 20th-century casement with a similar smaller one on the west wall of the advanced bay. Above is a blocked opening over the inserted door and a glazing bar sash over the large 20th-century window. The gabled bay has a central plain sash.

The east elevation has a stone section to the north, a central brick section to the north of the stone stack, and a rendered brick section to the south. The rendered part has a plain sash to the south and a 20th-century casement to the north of a segment-headed doorcase. To the north, beyond the stack, is a 20th-century casement under a plain stone lintel and a 20th-century glazed door under a similar lintel. Beyond again in the stone area is an inserted 20th-century casement with a plain sash to the north set in a 17th-century recessed and chamfered opening with dripmould. Above, to the south, are two segment-headed plain sashes and to the north at half-landing level is a small recessed and chamfered window. Above this the stonework is set back slightly and there is a 2-light recessed and chamfered mullion window.

The north elevation has a gabled bay to the east in stone with a cross wing in stone to the west, beyond which is the advanced brick bay of the 1699 addition with various later lean-tos attached to the east and north. The east bay has a gabled 19th-century brick porch with a semi-circular headed doorcase to the west and to the east a central 2-light recessed and chamfered mullion window with dripmould. Above is another similar window, and to the west is a similar 3-light window but without dripmould. Above again in the gable is a single-light recessed and chamfered window. The advanced bay to the west has a 20th-century lean-to to the ground floor, a 20th-century casement window to the second floor, and a central plain sash in the gable. Above, at the top of the gable, is a stone plaque inscribed 'John Lowe July the 2 1699'.

Attached to the east side of the eastern bay is a 19th-century brick archway and a single-storey outbuilding of rubble stone with corrugated asbestos roof, stone coped gables, stone quoins, and a 20th-century window and doors to the north side.

The interior of the house contains a fine open-well turned baluster 17th-century staircase with thick moulded handrail, ball finials and pendents, and a splat baluster dog-gate, extending through three floors. There is a complete 17th-century panelled bedroom, the remains of 18th-century panelling in one room, and a splendid late 16th-century oak chimneypiece with fluted side pilasters, three semi-circular headed panels with incised decoration, and a fluted frieze above, reputedly dated 1570 with DL initials. In the coal shed at the south-east corner of the house is a remarkable oak beamed ceiling made up of a grid of elaborately enriched timbers.