Lower House Farmhouse And Adjoining Stable

Lower House Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the mid-17th century, possibly incorporating an earlier core, with alterations made in the mid-20th century. An adjoining stable was built in the mid-to-late 19th century. The farmhouse is constructed of cob and stone, with cement rendering, while the stable is of stone rubble with red-brick dressings and rendered to the front. Both have asbestos-slate and corrugated-iron roofs, with a half-hipped wheatstraw thatched roof over the left-hand end of the farmhouse and a slate roof over rear lean-to additions. The farmhouse features 17th-century stone stacks with weatherings and 19th-century red-brick tops.

The original layout likely comprised a three-room and cross-passage plan, facing west, with the ground falling to the right. The main hall has an external lateral stack at the rear, while a probable former cross-passage and service room is on the right with an integral end stack. The former inner room, now the kitchen, is to the left with another integral end stack. A one-roomed addition was built in the 18th century to the left, along with a lean-to dairy at the rear of the left-hand end, likely dating from the 18th or 19th century. A small 19th-century lean-to addition sits at the rear of the right-hand end. A front door was inserted into the former inner room, probably when the left-hand end room was added. A staircase was inserted between the central hall and the right-hand room, likely occupying a former cross-passage. The front eaves of the 17th-century range were raised, possibly when the house was refenestrated in the mid-20th century. The stable was added to the right-hand end in the mid-to-late 19th century. The building’s plan suggests a 17th-century remodelling of a late-medieval hall house.

The farmhouse is two storeys high, with single-storey lean-to additions. The stable is of one storey and has a loft. On the front, there are four windows. The first floor has 20th-century metal casements on the right, while the ground floor has a 20th-century two-light metal casement to the right, a 19th-century two-light wooden casement to the hall, a 20th-century top-hung metal casement to the present kitchen, and a small ground-floor two-light wooden casement to the left-hand end. A cross-passage doorway is off-centre to the right, with a 19th-century boarded door, a chamfered wooden frame, a wooden lintel, and a gabled porch on shaped brackets. A 19th-century boarded door leads to the kitchen at the left, also with a chamfered wooden frame. The adjoining stable has two 19th-century two-light wooden windows and a central 20th-century half-height boarded door with a wooden lintel. A lateral stack is at the rear of the house with chamfered offsets. A boarded loft door is at the rear of the stable.

Inside, the hall has 17th-century ovolo-moulded cross beams. Segmental arched recesses flank the rear fireplace, featuring triple keys. There is also an 18th-century plastered ceiling. Six-panelled doors from the entrance lobby lead to the left- and right-hand rooms, with beaded, pegged, moulded architraves. An old boarded door connects the hall and the left-hand room (present kitchen). The kitchen has rough-hewn cross beams and a 17th-century fireplace at the rear with splayed stone jambs, a wooden lintel and a 19th-century mantelshelf. A 19th-century bench is alongside the right-hand wall. An old boarded door, with old strap hinges, leads to the dairy. Six-panelled doors are also present on the first floor. The roof space was not inspected.