Mow House Farmhouse

Mow House Farmhouse

Mow House Farmhouse is a three-storey brick house with ashlar dressings and render, built with integral brick chimney stacks and tile roofing. The front door case is carved stone. Internal partition walls are brick, while the roof and floor structure, along with some internal door cases, are of oak. The upper floor boards and remaining stair balustrade are pine. A single-storey service range to the north, constructed of rubble stone and roofed in stone slates with modern materials, is attached to the rear.

The building is rectangular in plan, double pile with a central hallway and rear staircase. The ground floor originally contained two rooms either side of the hall and stair, though these have been opened into each other while the former divisions remain legible. Behind the stair is a single-storey wash-house and service range subdivided into two rooms. The first floor is arranged as four rooms around a central landing. The second floor is subdivided into three areas by brick partition walls dating to the 18th century.

The symmetrical front façade has a central doorway with modern windows to either side. The second-floor openings are narrower, fitted with circa 19th-century casements, and sit beneath a stone eaves cornice. The façade is rendered with ashlar quoins. The central 21st-century door stands within an 18th-century opening with boldly moulded surround and raised keystone. The other elevations are also rendered. The roof has a slightly asymmetrical pitch with integral end stacks. The northern service range features a door to the south-east and small window openings to the other faces, with a sealed window opening to the north-east wall.

Internally, the ground floor contains no historic fittings of note. The stairs contain some 18th-century fabric, including a riser and supporting timbers with substantial joists, though they have been heavily altered in the 20th century. The first floor retains lateral oak ceiling beams in the north-west bay with chamfering and run-out stops. Some door openings retain oak frame panels, and the floor boards are a mixture of 19th and 20th-century examples. The attic stairs have an 18th-century balustrade with column-on-vase balusters, a number of which are missing. The attic space is subdivided by two full-height brick divisions dating to the 18th century. Doorways retain some iron pintles and timber catches. Joist holes in the walls indicate there was once a small attic space above. The roof is supported by large chamfered purlins and a ridge beam—two purlins support the front roof slope and three support the rear. The purlins are secured with iron bolts and straps in places, notably at the north-west end where an inserted brick chimney breast is accommodated. A small sealed attic window with timber lintel sits in the north corner. Eighteenth-century floor boards are concealed beneath later 19th-century planks. The casement window frames and catches are probably 19th-century. The cellar is sealed with concrete; a small window in the rear wall under the stairs, near the former cellar opening, is sealed in red brick. The lean-to range covers a blocked former back door to the main range, which retains a plaster surround and keystone.