Lower Holsome Including Front Garden Area Wall, Gate Piers And Mounting Block

Lower Holsome is a farmhouse, probably of mid-17th-century date, refashioned in the early 19th century and with mid-20th-century interior alterations. It is constructed of slate rubble with a slate-hung front and a slate roof, which has a hipped end to the right and a gabled end to the left, with gabled rear wings.

The building appears to be a single-build structure of the mid-17th century, although earlier fabric may be present. The plan comprises a front range of two rooms: the larger left-hand room may have served as the best parlour, while the right-hand room was a smaller parlour with an entrance passage between them. The passage leads to the stairwell at the back. Behind the left-hand room is a dairy in a two-storey wing, and behind the right-hand room is a larger two-storey wing containing the kitchen with a gable-end fireplace. The two front rooms are heated from rear fireplaces in chimney stacks positioned at the junction with the rear wings. Two rendered chimney stacks stand at the rear of the front range at the junction with the rear wings, and a gable-end stack is located at the rear of the right-hand wing.

In the early 19th century, the front of the house was refenestrated and internal refashioning may have occurred at that time. However, mid-20th-century work stripped the interior of its earlier joinery, including the staircase, and most surviving 17th-century work is now covered. The house is built into the back at the left end, and the ground falls away at the right end.

The exterior is of two storeys with an almost symmetrical four-window front. The windows are circa early-19th-century 16-pane sashes with granite cills; the first-floor right-hand sash was replaced with a facsimile in the 20th century. The doorway is positioned right of centre and features a circa early-19th-century flush panel door with the top four panels glazed, topped by a flat canopy on large shaped brackets with braces. The right-hand side of the rear right-hand wing displays a section of string course and some blocked window openings, along with two 20th-century casements and one late-19th-century casement. A lean-to outshut is positioned on the rear right-hand corner. The inner face of the right-hand wing has external steps leading to a probably 19th-century loft doorway with a gabled head. The left-hand rear wing has only one small ground-floor window on the outer side and a circa late-19th-century three-light casement on the ground and first floors of the gable end, with slate weathering above the ground-floor window. The inner face of the left-hand wing contains a small raking buttress. A 20th-century stair window lies between the two wings.

Interior features that survive include a fireplace in the right-hand room with a wooden lintel bearing ovolo moulding and hollow steps, with dressed slate jambs. A chamfered wooden doorframe with true mitres provides access to the dairy. Two ovolo-moulded oak doorframes in the barn came from a blocked doorway to the right of the passage. The roof structure is said to have been replaced except for some of the principal rafters.

The front garden area includes a slate-rubble wall with rounded corners and slate coping. Tall square-on-plan gate-piers with slate caps stand opposite the front doorway. Inside the gateway to the right is a mounting block with slate steps.