Duck House

SE 69 SE 6/47

FARNDALE EAST DALESIDE ROAD (north-east side, off) Duck House

II*

Farmhouse. C16-C17; C19 extension and alteration; modernised, roof renewed and partly raised in C20. Partly cruck-framed, encased in squared limestone rubble with cedar shingle roof; brick and stone stacks. A longhouse originally, the low end later converted to domestic occupation. Single- storey and attic, 3-window high end to left, with altered 2-storey, 3-window low end to right. Original cross passage door to right of centre now blocked: present entrance is a C20 board door approached by stone steps at centre right. Windows are small-pane casements with stone sills to both storeys. Tooled lintels to ground-floor openings. Original high end has single-light fire window and a 2-light chamfered mullion window, both in chamfered surrounds. Attic windows are flat dormers with 2-light small-pane casements. End left, right of centre and centre right stacks. Gable wall to right: a large flat stone with a hole through its centre projects from the masonry, approximately 2 metres from the ground. This is said to have been used for making withies. Rear: to end right, a plank door in a chamfered surround beneath a shallow Tudor arch. 2 unaltered square lights to left of door, in chamfered surrounds. Remaining windows are replacements in altered openings, including a 2-light, small-pane casement blocking the original cross passage door to left of centre. Interior. Ground floor: chamfered beams and square section joists with run-out stops visible in end left and centre rooms to original high end; ceiling to room to right underdrawn, but beam survives. Partition walls of fielded panelling and grooved studs survive between rooms. End left room contains inglenook fireplace with chamfered bressumer, heck post and plain stone chimney-piece. Spice cupboard recess to left and former turf oven to right. Centre room contains C19 box stairs. Room to right has a sleeping area partitioned off in square grooved panelling incorporating 2 doors, one with butterfly hinges, one with H-L hinges. A portion of similar panelling survives within the room, to right of the door. Attic: 2 pairs of full crucks with saddle apex, butt purlins pegged into spurs. A third pair, upper crucks, is boxed but has a saddle apex. 2 bays of the roof are underdrawn but original rafters are visible in the centre bays. Stone firehood survives against the end wall. The centre bays contain 2 built-in box beds. The house was possibly built by John or Thomas Duck, a Farndale mason c1520, whose family lived there until c1750. Following the loss of Carr Cote, Bilsdale, and of Oak Cragg, Farndale, Duck House is of considerable importance as a surviving example of a Moors farmhouse of the post-medieval period. M Hartley and J Ingilby, Life in the Moorlands of N.E Yorkshire, 1972; pp 11-12; 23.

Listing NGR: SE6830494624