West Blakewell Cottage

A farmhouse, now a private dwelling, likely dating from the early 16th century, with subsequent alterations in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and later changes. The construction is primarily painted stone rubble and cob, with a thatched roof, half-hipped at the left end and gabled to the right. A prominent front lateral hall stack rises from the front, featuring a tapered cap, drip, offsets, and a projecting bread oven. The building's plan has evolved over time; originally an open hall house, the hall, passage, and inner room remain, while the lower end, possibly a former byre, has been demolished. The original layout likely comprised only the hall and passage, as solid, full-height partitions separate the hall from the inner room and at the lower end of the passage, now forming the right gable end wall. The inner room may represent a later addition. The passage and lower end of the hall were originally floored, with the hall itself being ceiled in the 17th century, coinciding with the construction of the lateral stack. A projecting stair turret is located at the rear of the hall. The front wall of the hall and inner room has been rebuilt and extended outwards to align with the lateral stack, and the rear of the passage has been partitioned off to create a small dairy. The building is two stories high with a three-window front. Fenestration is of 20th-century design. To the left of the stack, a two-storey section has been built out, featuring a slate roof and two-light casements with three panes per light on each floor. A three-light window, also with three panes per light, is situated to the right of the stack, above an ovolo-moulded door surround to the cross-passage doorway, which has large bulbous stops surmounted by carved triple leaf motifs. Inside, remnants of a headrail and some of the muntins survive in the hall/cross-passage screen. A deeply projecting low jetty overhangs the screen, with a chamfered jetty beam indicating phased floor insertions. The stubs of studs above the jetty create a small chamber over the passage and lower end of the hall, accessible via a winder staircase in the projecting stair turret at the rear of the hall. The hall’s high cross ceiling beam and bressumers have ornate quadruple-reeded chamfers terminating in carved leaf stops and scratch-moulded joists. A fireplace with a bread oven and squint has a chamfered lintel. Two axial chamfered beams and bressumers are present in the inner room, with pyramid stops. The principal truss over the hall was replaced in the 19th century, although smoke-blackened rafters remain over the hall and cross-passage. A solid stone and cob partition, rising to the apex of the roof, separates the hall and inner room. The roof structure over the inner room appears to be of 18th or early 19th-century construction, suggesting substantial rebuilding of the inner room end.