Cowicks

Cowicks is a lobby-entrance house dating from the 17th century, with extensions added in the 19th and 20th centuries. The house is timber-framed, with plastered walls and a roof covered in handmade red clay tiles. It comprises four bays aligned approximately north-south, facing east, with an axial chimney stack in the second bay from the north, which now appears blocked, marking the lobby-entrance. A mid-19th century extension adjoins the south, incorporating an entrance hall and an external chimney stack at the south gable. A two-storey flat-roofed extension was added to the west in the 20th century, featuring a chimney stack at the northwest corner, alongside a 20th-century conservatory. A long service range, constructed of yellow brick in Flemish bond with vertical bands of red bricks, extends approximately east-west at the north end of the house, forming an L-shaped plan and featuring a roof of handmade red clay tiles. At the western end of the service range is a square malting, built of plastered yellow brickwork with a pyramidal slate roof and louvres. The main house is two storeys high, while the service wing is single-storey with attics. The east elevation includes a 19th-century tiled gabled porch housing a four-panel door with glass in the upper panels; two mid-19th century double-hung sash windows of four lights; one 18th-century casement window of six lights with a wrought iron casement; and a 20th-century glazed screen. The first floor has three mid-19th century double-hung sash windows of four lights. The axial chimney stack features grouped diagonal shafts. Inside, there are chamfered beams with lamb's tongue stops, and a mid-19th century staircase. The roof is a queen strut design, with clasped purlins and some smoke-blackened rafters from a medieval house, incorporating minor 19th/20th century alterations. The will of Robert Duke, dated 1669, refers to ‘my new dwelling house called Cowicks in Sheering’.