The Lack

The Lack is a Grade II* listed farmhouse located on the south side of the A489 in Rhiston, Brompton. It dates back to the early 17th century, with later additions and alterations. The building is timber framed with plaster and painted brick infill, topped by a slate roof. It features a baffle-entry plan and stands two storeys high, comprising three framed bays, with an additional bay to the left that was added or rebuilt in the mid-19th century.

The framing consists of close-set vertical posts with a middle rail on the ground floor. The first floor jetties out and is supported by a richly moulded bressumer on decorated carved brackets, which display herringbone decoration on the front. There is also a jetty on the second floor at the right gable end. The rear of the building has small square panels on the first floor, with the ground floor under-built in brick. The left bay is constructed of 19th-century brick, now painted black and white to mimic a timber frame.

The windows are irregularly placed, featuring late 19th-century casements throughout, with two on the first floor of the timber-framed section and two on the ground floor. The first-floor window on the right gable end has a moulded wooden cill from an earlier window. The brick addition includes segmental-headed casements on each floor. A 20th-century boarded door with a moulded surround is located to the left of the 17th-century part, accompanied by a 20th-century red brick ridge stack immediately to the left.

Inside, the farmhouse has been considerably altered in the early 20th century, with a new staircase and fireplaces, but it retains a chamfered cross-beam ceiling with ogee stops in the right ground-floor room.