Scales Farm Cottage

Scales Farm Cottage is a farmhouse dating from 1668, with alterations and additions from the 18th century. It is constructed of rendered rubble stone on boulder foundations, with smooth stone dressings and gable stacks, one brick and one stone. The roof is covered with Westmorland slate laid in diminishing courses. The building originally comprised two rooms arranged around a front door, with a two-phase lean-to service range added to the rear.

The west elevation has two storeys and two bays, with three window openings on the ground floor. The central opening contains a two-light sandstone mullioned window. To the left, a similar window lacks a mullion, and to the right the opening has been enlarged, retaining a flush surround. All openings lack frames. The first floor has two former two-light windows, one of which lacks mullions. The bay on the left has a covered, 17th-century three-light mullioned window. The north gable features a plain doorway and an inserted fire window to the right, likely replacing a blocked fire window in the west wall. The south gable has no openings.

Inside, a hall and parlour are accessed by a passage along the east wall. A stone baffle and inserted timber partition with a plank door separate the hall, which has a chamfered spine beam with run-out stops and a carved inscription reading 'T.P. 1668’. A deep stone hood over the hearth rises from a timber bressumer, incorporating an early 18th-century surround, with a former set pot on the east side. Oak joists are visible on the first floor, which is accessed by a stone winder stair. A stone partition wall divides the hall and parlour, the latter having a stone surround to an inserted hearth. This is an important and relatively unaltered example of a farmhouse with an end-lobby entrance plan, a rare survival.