Eastward Farmhouse and attached Barns

This farmhouse, probably dating from the late 17th century and extended in the 18th century with minor 20th-century adaptations, stands with two attached combination barns, probably from the 18th or early 19th century with later additions.

All buildings are constructed of local stone rubble with graduated Westmorland slate roofs. The east elevation of the house is roughcast.

Layout

The farmhouse is a linear building oriented north to south. A combination barn is attached at right angles to its north gable, and another combination barn (linked by a stone wall) sits at right angles to its south gable. Together, the farmhouse and barns form a simple U-plan farmstead around three sides of a yard, which is open to the east.

Farmhouse Exterior

The stone-built farmhouse rises three and two storeys beneath pitched roofs, with gable end chimney stacks and a cross-axial ridge stack. Sash windows are generally unhorned with fine glazing bars.

The main east elevation shows three storeys to the original south part and two storeys to the northern addition. The original section features a pair of drip moulds and three first-floor windows. These windows have chamfered reveals (probably originally mullioned) and small-paned horizontally sliding sashes. The ground floor has three windows: two horizontal sliding sash windows (six-by-six panes east of the porch and four-by-four panes west of the porch) and a smaller six-pane fixed light fire window. The main entrance has a gabled porch with a double studded door, and a small-paned window lights the attic.

The added northern part has a first-floor eight-over-eight sash window and a ground-floor four-over-four sash window, plus a segmental-headed entrance with a renewed six-panel door.

The rear west elevation has a walled court at the north-east corner and a gabled range with a corniced end stack and a single six-over-six sash window to the lower right. The north elevation of this gabled range has a first-floor six-over-six sash window and a ground-floor eight-over-eight sash window. The remainder of the rear elevation is obscured by a full-length two-storey range with a catslide roof featuring scattered fenestration, mostly small openings with timber lintels, drip moulds and stone sills.

The south gable has slated crow steps and a slate drip mould to the upper part.

Northern Barn

A two-storey combination barn is attached to the north gable of the house and the north wall of the external court. The barn is built of coursed slate with crude quoins beneath a pitched roof of graduated slate.

Its south elevation has a lintel inscribed "C and ME 1744" above a small ground-floor window. To the left is an entrance with chamfered jambs and a timber lintel, followed by two further windows and a first-floor pitching door. The north elevation has a full-height cart entrance with a gabled projecting wing to the right and a long lean-to outshut to the left. The east gable is blind, and there is a boarded door with strap hinges through the east elevation of the lean-to outshut. The west gable is obscured by the addition of a gabled pitched-roof outbuilding.

Southern Barn

Attached to the south gable of the farmhouse is a high stone wall with a full-height camber-headed arched opening of narrow voussoirs, linking to a second two-storey combination barn with a pitched roof. The barn's west and east gables are blind, the latter being crow stepped.

The south elevation has a ground-floor entrance and a pair of small eaves windows with stone jambs and lintels. An attached narrow L-shaped stone range with a hipped roof includes an open-fronted section terminating in a sheep dip; this addition is of lesser interest than the rest of the complex.

The north elevation has a full-height cart door flanked to the left by a pair of boarded door openings with camber-headed arches of narrow voussoirs, and to the right by a similar opening plus square-headed openings to the ground and first floors.

Farmhouse Interior

The original part of the farmhouse has chamfered ceiling beams and stone-flagged floors throughout. Beams in the 18th-century addition are largely boxed in. Multiple original doors with original door furniture survive in all areas.

The main entrance opens directly into an L-shaped living room with a large inglenook supported on a substantial fire beam and lit by a fire window. A 19th-century cast-iron range is set into an early stone fireplace, with fitted cupboards to both sides, some with fielded-panel doors. Within the inglenook are multiple metal hooks, and the inner face of the fire beam has a series of crude cupboards, some with butterfly hinges. The west wall has a fitted wooden decorative rack extending left above a doorway and right to incorporate a timber rack with a scrolled pedimented head and urn finials. A window seat to the east wall has fielded panelling. The south side of this room is formed by a timber panelled partition four panels high, with an integral three-panel boarded door.

On the other side of the partition is a narrow parlour with a plain stone fire surround and a slate mantel shelf. A corbelled beam runs to either side, and left of the fireplace is a stone plinth with a paen-fronted storage chest, possibly a peat store. There is a blocked mullioned window to the east wall. A door opening with a double thickness door in the west wall leads into a buttery or dairy with fitted stone benches; the corbelled beam continues into this room.

The main stair is adjacent to the buttery. To the right is a second small buttery or dairy entered through an original door, with a concrete floor and later work surfaces and storage shelves. In a passageway immediately outside this room, a timber spice cupboard with a fielded-panel door is set into a wall.

The two-storey 18th-century addition has a ground-floor hall leading from the front door, a living room, and a rear room. The living room has original segmental-headed fitted cupboards with fluted pilasters and a dentil cornice to either side of an inserted 1950s fireplace, and a panelled window seat is also retained. The rear room has a 20th-century range set into a fire breast, and a timber spice cupboard set into the right alcove, engraved "CM 1728".

A rear entrance fitted with a double studded door opens into a small external court with a stone-flagged floor, a set of stone steps leading up to a boarded entrance, and a stone bench. The rear entrance has a substantial lintel and a slate drip stone.

The stone stair leads from the living room through an opening with a crude architrave and a three-panelled door. It comprises two straight flights separated by a stepped half-landing and a first-floor landing that bridges the staircase, all with simple crude balustrades.

The original part of the first floor has three bedrooms to the front and two bedrooms to the rear. Several floors are boarded. The rear rooms are situated either side of the stair and housed within the catslide roof, which retains its original timber roof structure. The front rooms are separated by shallow plank and muntin partitions, and all rooms retain original plank doors.

The most northerly bedroom has a corner attic staircase set within a later partition that also encloses a chimney breast. The attic retains the original oak double-purlin roof structure with ridge purlin and two raised tie trusses. Further blocked windows are visible, including one retaining leaded glass panes, and the upper stone chimney flue is visible to the north gable.

The 18th-century addition has a single large first-floor bedroom to the front and a bathroom to the rear. The bedroom is open to the roof and has a pair of fitted cupboards, also with fluted pilasters and dentilled cornices. The opposing wall retains the original external chimney of the original dwelling. The bedroom and bathroom are separated by an 18th-century folding timber-panelled partition with a matching door. The bathroom retains the shutters and panelling to the rear window.

Barn Interiors

The interior of the northern barn is a double-height space with a replacement softwood king-post roof structure. There are stalls for a stable beneath a mezzanine hayloft to the eastern end. The attached lean-to retains an historic roof structure and there is a timber manger to one end.

The interior of the south barn is a largely double-height space with a flagged threshing floor and an area of stalls beneath a mezzanine hayloft to each end. The timber stalls are mostly double stalls for cattle and flank a central manure and feeding passage. The seven-bay double-purlin roof structure is a mixture of king-post and queen-post trusses. Some purlins and all rafters are renewed, but the structure mostly retains original elm principal members.

The attached L-shaped range retains timber feeding racks and part of the original roof structure, and the sheep dip retains its fittings.