Loads House Farmhouse And Attached Outbuildings

Loads House Farmhouse is a farmhouse with attached outbuildings, dating from 1713, and subject to 19th and 20th century alterations and additions. The construction is of coursed squared Coal Measures sandstone with ashlar dressings, quoins, plain gables, ashlar ridge and gable stacks with moulded cornices and semicircular chimney cappings to two stacks. The roof is stone slated. The building is arranged in an L-shape, with farm outbuildings attached under a continuous roof extending to the east and west sides.

The south elevation presents a three-bay, two-storey house, with a later bay added to the west, incorporated from the attached outbuilding. A central doorway has a massive lintel and quoined surround, with a plain planked door beneath a later canopy. To the east are two stacked pairs of three-light flush mullioned windows with casement frames. To the west of the doorway is an inserted doorway, now enclosed by a 20th century half-glazed flat-roofed porch, above which is a three-light flush-mullioned window. Further west, a former doorway has been altered into a window with a 20th century top-hung light, with a small single-light window above. Attached to the west is a single-storey outbuilding of four bays, each with quoined surrounds to the doorways and substantial lintels. The doors are plain planked stable doors. Attached to the east is a two-storey outbuilding with two doorways of different widths and heights, each with stone-framed surrounds and planked doors. A low masonry boundary wall with shallow saddleback copings and spear-headed railings, incorporating low square gatepiers with depressed pyramidal caps and an iron gate, fronts the house. A taller wall encloses the inserted doorway and added west bay.

The rear elevation includes a two-bay cross-wing. On the east elevation are stacked pairs of two-light flush mullioned windows, with the northernmost pair at a higher level than the southern pair to serve a staircase. The west elevation has a single-bay offshut with a catslide roof, featuring a 18th century single-light window to the east, a single sash window (divided into 2 panes), a further 2-light flush mullioned window, and a blocked 17th century single-light window. Plain window openings are present on the remaining portions of the outbuilding, alongside a single quoined doorway with a plank door.