Beckside farmhouse and barns

Beckside Farmhouse and Barns

Beckside comprises a later 17th-century farmhouse with a mid- to late 19th-century addition, a late 18th- or early 19th-century bank barn with later additions, and a detached rectangular barn of similar date with a former threshing bay. All buildings are constructed of local stone rubble, with the farmhouse rendered, and roofs of graduated Lakeland slate. The group stands as a coherent farm complex demonstrating the evolution of rural domestic and agricultural architecture across three centuries.

The Farmhouse

The farmhouse is a linear two-unit structure with a rear service wing and added western bay. Two storeys and six bays are arranged beneath a pitched roof of graduated Lakeland slate, with rear wing and lean-to additions.

The main south elevation displays six first-floor windows, five forming the original dwelling with end chimney stacks and one added western bay with its own end stack. All windows have stone sills and are fitted with replacement casement frames. The main entrance towards the right end is a gabled porch flanked on either side by a 12-pane window, with a narrower nine-pane window further left, possibly marking the location of a fire window lighting the inglenook. The three ground-floor windows have slate drip moulds. To the left is a single bay with inserted French doors within an exposed stone surround, and a matching window above dating to the earlier phase. The right and left returns are blind. The right return continues north into the rear range, which displays regular fenestration with stone sills and replacement casement frames. The rear elevation is partially obscured by a later lean-to. An original range projects forward from the left end with a pitched roof and gable-end stack, accompanied by a lean-to extension. Within the lean-to, a cobbled plinth marks the original external wall of the rear range, which also retains a door with a substantial stone lintel.

The Farmhouse Interior

The entrance opens into the firehouse, the main living room of the original two-unit house. This room features a pair of adzed and waney ceiling beams and wooden window seats. The remains of an inglenook towards the former west gable includes a fire beam and a heck passage to the right. An inserted chimneybreast with a small spice cupboard occupies the right side, and an original tall, rectangular blocked gable entrance with timber lintel stands beside it. At the east end, a plank and muntin partition fixed to a timber beam separates this room from the parlour, with integral two-panel doors at either end.

The parlour retains a pair of ceiling beams projecting through a plastered ceiling, and the inner face of the plank and muntin partition is also plastered. The lower portion of a curving cruck blade rises from the original east gable wall into the plastered ceiling. Windows have wooden seats, one fitted with a fielded panelled back. The higher-ceilinged western bay contains a late 19th- or early 20th-century fireplace and chimney piece. A plank and batten door from the rear of the firehouse leads to a rear kitchen or dairy with a stone-flagged floor, substantial oak ceiling beams and rafters, and a second plank door opening outside.

An oak straight-flight staircase at the rear of the firehouse, enclosed by plank and muntin panelling, rises to the first floor. It features a flat-topped handrail with moulded sides, attached to a simple square-plan newel post with ball finial, and a landing balustrade of bobbin balusters. The western bedroom retains no historic features. The L-shaped first-floor hall has a floorboard floor and six plank and batten doors, each with two outer panels, opening into five rooms. Most rooms are separated from the hall and from each other by unpainted plank and muntin partitions showing clear adze marks on their uprights. Rooms generally have floorboard floors, some notably wide. The main bedroom, with a door at each end, was formerly partitioned and now contains a small cast-iron grate inserted into an earlier chimney breast. Adjacent bedrooms have similar cast-iron fireplaces. The rear bedroom retains a cast-iron grate. Limited views through ceiling holes above the east-west and north-south ranges suggest that an early roof structure is retained, as is a stone firehood to the east gable.

The L-Shaped Bank Barn

The L-shaped hybrid bank barn is constructed of stone rubble with quoined upper walls, beneath pitched roofs of graduated slate. Each of its three gables has an owl hole to the apex. The east gabled elevation features a central ground-floor opening, probably originally a door, now partially blocked to form a window with an arched head constructed of narrow, long voussoirs. The south elevation is a linear east-west range with a pair of cow-house entrances with substantial stone lintels flanking a pair of ventilation slits. To the west is a gabled north-south range with a similar stable entrance and pitching door above, plus a small ground-floor window and ventilation slits. The west gable displays a large first-floor entrance with double boarded doors beneath a timber lintel, reached by a stone-built ramped access with an integral entrance passage leading beneath the ramp. The remainder is obscured by a later high lean-to with a corrugated sheet roof and various openings. The gabled north elevation has ventilation slits to each level and attached lean-tos.

The barn's first floor retains a hay sink mow at its north end. The building largely preserves its original king post roof structure, though some members have been replaced, and features a modern boarded floor and modern timber partition. The ground floor features a ceiling of adzed and waney first-floor timbers throughout, divided into several compartments.

One compartment is a cow house retaining a row of three intact timber and slate cattle stalls with stone floors, stone feeding troughs, and tethering rings. A stone kerbed feeding and manure channel with stone flagged and cobbled surface separates these from an opposing row of three stalls, mostly now dismantled. A further compartment contains a similar arrangement of two rows of three timber and slate stalls with a cobbled floor and a central, intact fodder gang. Some retain timber feeders and stone troughs set in the ground. An adjacent stable houses a complete row of three timber stalls with cobbled floors and integral timber feeders. The western lean-to, accessed via a passage beneath the ramp, contains a modern milking parlour.

The Western Barn

The western barn is a single-storey structure of rubble construction beneath a pitched roof of slate. It has a central tall cart entrance with double timber boarded doors beneath a timber lintel and slate dripstone on the north elevation. To the left is a blocked entrance with a drip mould, and to the right is a single ventilation slit. The right return is blind except for three owl holes to the gable apex. The left gable return has similar owl holes and a pair of lower ventilation slits. The rear elevation displays an opposing set of double cart doors indicating a threshing bay, and a lean-to addition extends from the east gable.

The interior of the western barn retains the original double purlin roof structure of two triangular tie-beam trusses with collars.