Stair House

ABOVE DERWENT NY 22 SW NEWLANDS 447/11/10004 Stair House

II

House. Dated 1647, with minor C18 and C19 alterations. Painted rendered lakeland rubble beneath a Westmorland state roof, laid to diminishing courses. Gable end stacks. PLAN: 2 cell front lobby entrance plan comprising hall (firehouse) and service room (downhouse) with rear buttery. FRONT (north ) ELEVATION: 2 storeys, 3 bays with lobby entrance to west end of front. Moulded doorcase and slightly advanced lintel bearing the inscription'F:F: 1647'. C20 planked and studded narrow double doors. Above the doorway, and slightly offset to the left, a glazing bar window, 4x3 panes, set back in a deep reveal. Small first floor panel reads'STAIR HOUSE'. 2 wider windows of similar form to left, slightty offset above the 2 ground floor windows below, all with glazing bars, and some of horizontal sliding sash form. REAR ELEVATION: low gabled stair tower to centre,with small 9-pane window below a rough drip mould at mid wall height. Wide ground floor window with glazing bars to left,and doorway to right. INTERIOR: Original plan little disturbed,with simple lobby with plank door within moulded doorcase set against baffle forming part of the massive end wall hearth. The deep hearth recess extends almost the full width of the house, with timber bressumer and spice cupboard with small oak door set within its south cheek. State flagged floor. Single spine beam extends from front to rear. Rear wall with doorway into rear stair tower, and partition wall between firehouse and downhouse with doorway at its northern end. Both doorways with C17 oakpanelled doors. Downhouse with small hearth to end wall,now with early C2O range,and with 2 spine beams extending from either side of the hearth to partition watt. Below the southern beam, a secondary partition separates the downhouse from a small buttery with stone benches. Stair tower with wooden treads to spiral stair which leads to first floor access corridor with stud partition and an oak door with rough fielded panels. Wide oak floorboards throughout first floor. A little-altered, substantially complete, and increasingly rare example of a Cl7 house of lobby entrance plan form which displays many of the distinctive vernacular building traditions, and interior details representative of the upland region in which it is located.

Listing NGR: NY2359821188