Lowerton House

A farmhouse, now a private house, with complex development spanning over four centuries. The building originated in the late 16th or early 17th century and underwent five major phases of construction and alteration through to the mid-19th century, with some 20th-century changes.

The house is built of slatestone rubble with a hipped roof, the front slope covered in asbestos slates and the remainder in slate with ridge tiles. Some early 18th-century handmade ridge tiles survive on the rear left stair wing. Chimneys are of brick to the sides with a brick rear lateral stack, and some brick dressings are used throughout. An attached scullery and wash house is also of rubble construction with a slurried slate roof, gable ends, and crested ridge tiles; it formerly had a gable end stack.

Development and Plan

The original late 16th or early 17th-century house had a three-room plan: two rooms to the left of a passage and a lower end room to the right. The right-hand room was heated by a gable end stack, the central room by a rear lateral stack, and the left end room by another gable end stack. The second ground floor window from the right may mark the position of the original front entrance, later altered in the 18th-century rebuilding. A curved wall at the rear left of the main range possibly indicates an early stair location.

In the second phase, probably in the later 17th century, a rear outshut of two-room plan with one storey and an attic was added to the rear of the two right-hand rooms. The rear right room became the kitchen, replacing the former kitchen in the front right room. This later 17th-century kitchen has a rear stack forming a gable end to the room and included a pigeon loft at first floor level. The room added to the left is an unheated dairy with a loft above, entered from the kitchen. Around this time, a late 17th-century stair hall was inserted in the front right room.

In the third phase, a two-storey addition was made to the rear of the left-hand room: a cow house at ground floor (adjacent to the dairy) with a loft above.

The fourth phase, around 1740, created a symmetrical facade. The front wall of the two left-hand rooms was brought forward and the left end wall rebuilt. A stair tower was constructed at the rear of the left-hand room, involving partial demolition of the cow house, which remained behind the stair tower. The house was raised in height and re-roofed to create two storeys and an attic, possibly originally lit by dormer windows. At this time, a single-storey scullery and wash house was built to the rear right, close to the back kitchen door, and heated by a gable end stack. The interior was considerably remodelled with panelling throughout.

In the fifth phase, during the mid-19th century, the roof over the main range appears to have been rebuilt, retaining the 18th-century trusses but at a slightly lower level and removing the windows. The central room in the front range was remodelled as a dining room with a larger front window, new door, and fireplace.

Exterior

The front elevation has two storeys with a symmetrical five-window arrangement and one bay set back to the right. The windows are late 18th or 19th century. The ground floor has a central 20th-century porch with a hipped roof and a 19th-century panelled and glazed door with overlight. To the left are two 12-pane sashes in exposed boxes with concrete lintels, and to the right a 12-pane sash with sidelights and timber lintel, plus a 12-pane sash in an exposed box with a concrete lintel. The first floor has five 12-pane sashes in exposed boxes with brick segmental heads. The end bay to the right has a higher wall level at the top. At ground floor level it has a 12-pane sash with concrete lintel, at first floor an 18th-century two-light casement of six panes with L-hinges and slate sill, and a similar smaller two-light casement at second floor. The eaves are 19th-century with brackets and two 20th-century roof lights.

The left side has a small single-storey rubble addition, partially removed. The stack is stepped with a slate string course and brick shaft. To the rear of the main front range wall, the original wall thickness projects in a curve, possibly an early stair location. To the left, the 18th-century stair wing has a 20th-century cellar door. At first floor level is an 18th-century two-light casement of 10 panes with L-hinges and brick segmental head, with a similar casement at second floor. Further left is the outhouse, reduced in height from two storeys to one storey with a shallow loft, open to roof level inside. In the rear of the stair tower is a blocked doorway that formerly gave access to the upper level of the outhouse. The side of the outhouse has a 20th-century door and two upper 20th-century windows, with a hipped slate roof. The rear of the outhouse has a 20th-century three-light window with timber lintel and a blocked window under the eaves; the inner side has a 20th-century door. This outhouse was the former late 17th-century cow house and retains a cobbled floor with drainage channel and drain hole.

At the right side of the house, the main range has a large stepped external stack with an 18th-century brick shaft. There is a straight joint to the right of the later 17th-century outshut, which is of one storey with an attic. At ground floor level there is a plain door with strap hinges and a 20th-century window to the right. The first floor has a 20th-century two-light casement and three rows of blocked pigeonholes above.

Attached to the house by a 20th-century wall is a single-storey rubble 18th-century scullery and wash house, with a 20th-century light and blocked window to the front, two window openings to the rear, and a door in the gable end facing the house. The outer gable end formerly had a stack. This structure has a slate floor and roof with halved and pegged principals, pegged collars, and one row of trenched purlins. A well remains in the floor, and the building formerly had a boiler.

The rear of the house has a catslide roof over the late 17th-century outshut, and the brick shaft of an 18th-century chimney rising from the slope for the rear lateral stack of the main range. To the left, the kitchen has a projecting gable end with a rubble stack with brick shaft and a two-light 20th-century casement to the right of the stack. The dairy, at the centre, has a single light with iron stanchions and a four-pane light with leading, plus a three-light casement with chamfered mullions and frame, with four-pane lights and leading. Above is a gabled and slate-hung dormer, probably 18th century, with a two-light casement with L-hinges and eight panes to each light.

Interior

The front entrance hall has fielded panelling and dado panelling, a moulded cornice, and a round arch with imposts leading to the rear stair hall. The room to the front left has fine six-panelled shutters to the windows with panelled window seats and soffits. The rear wall has a pair of cupboards with round arches and shaped shelves. The ceiling has a moulded plaster oval. The fireplace is 20th century.

The room to the front right of the entrance hall has a 19th-century six-panelled door and was remodelled as a mid-19th-century dining room. The rear lateral fireplace has a 19th-century cast iron grate and mantel. The stair hall has a two-panelled door to the right leading to the dairy and a two-panelled door to the rear leading to the cow house, both in moulded architraves. The dog-leg stair to the left has a plain handrail, closed string, and fine turned balusters with rounded knops, with dado panelling to the side. The stair rises with the same balusters to second floor level.

In the front range, to the right of the dining room, is the late 17th-century stair hall. This has a dog-leg stair with shaped splat balusters, probably also 18th century, rising to the first floor, with a short flight to the attic where the stair continues as a winder. There is plain panelling to the side. The window to the front of this stair hall was rebuilt in the 1940s, but the apron is cut back through the thickness of the original wall and may be the site of the original entrance.

The end right room has a front wall thickness of about one metre, much thicker than the front walls of the other rooms, which were rebuilt in the early 18th-century phase. This room has fielded panelling on the wall backing onto the 17th-century stair, with plain shutters to the front window. The gable end fireplace is 20th century and has a recess in the wall to the left, probably originally for an oven when this room was the kitchen. At ground floor level in the front range, all the cross walls are panelled partitions with no masonry.

To the rear of the 17th-century stair hall and slightly to the right is a step down to a fine 17th-century door with raised moulded battens in a geometric pattern and strap hinges. This door is probably resited, with the geometric side facing the interior of the house. The rear wall is about 90 centimetres thick.

To the rear right, the later 17th-century kitchen has a slate floor at a lower level than the front range. The rear fireplace is blocked. An early 18th-century two-panelled door leads to the front right room. Roughly hewn axial beams cross the ceiling. The dairy also has a slate floor and slate table. The rear of the rear lateral stack from the front range projects into this room.

At first floor level, the front left room retains some of the moulded cornice as at ground floor. This room has a two-panelled door and a similar door to a cupboard in the rear wall. The partition wall is in fielded panelling with panelled shutters to windows. The fireplace in the end wall is 20th century. The first floor landing over the 18th-century stair has fielded dado panelling. To the front is a small room with a two-panelled door, plain panelled walls, and panelled shutters and window seat. The central room has two-panelled doors, fielded panelling and shutters to the windows, and a plain chimneypiece to the rear lateral fireplace with a blocked 19th-century grate. A pane of glass in the window has a scratched inscription: "Mary Boger 17 (41?)".

The front right room has a two-panelled door. A small room over the 17th-century stair hall has a two-panelled door and plain panelled walls. The rear wall at first floor level is about one metre thick. The room over the kitchen, originally a pigeon loft, has an 18th-century six-panelled fielded door with fleur-de-lys and half-moon strap hinges, resited from the ground floor dining room. The room over the dairy has been partitioned in the 20th century. To the rear, between these two rooms, is a cupboard with a 17th-century door with raised moulded battens, also resited.

The roof over the main range is of seven bays, largely of 19th and 20th-century repair with some 18th-century trusses remaining. These have halved and pegged principals with collars and upper collars bolted to the face of the principals, and two rows of purlins. The walls are plastered and were formerly stud partitions dividing the attic rooms. The wall is higher to the rear of the main range, with access directly from the 18th-century stair and from the extended 17th-century stair.