Wincle Grange Farmhouse

Wincle Grange Farmhouse, originating around 1200 as part of Combermere Abbey, likely began as a structure in the mid-14th century, although the oldest visible elements probably date to the late 15th century. A northwest wing was added or altered in the early 18th century and subsequently repaired in the 19th and 20th centuries. The farmhouse is constructed of reddish-buff sandstone with Kerridge stone-slate roofs.

The southeast wing, initially possibly the great hall, is now two storeys and an attic. The lower northwest wing has two storeys. The northeast side of the older wing features two windows with three trefoil lights, hollow-moulded mullions, and blank trefoils within the spandrels. One lower window is blocked, while the others have 19th-century painted wood or iron windows with iron small-pane casements. A stone chimney is flush with the wall. A tile-roofed stone lean-to, added in the 19th century, serves as a porch and former wash-house on the northwest wing. The southeast end has one window on each main storey and in the gable to the attic. The lower storey window has four trefoil lights, hollow-moulded mullions, blank trefoils, and old rectangular leaded glazing. The upper storey window has three square-headed lights with late 20th-century small-pane wood casements. The attic window mirrors the lower storey’s design with three lights. A hoodmould with a battlemented top sits above the lower storey window, while the upper storey’s hoodmould has been altered with zig-zag carving and two repositioned quatrefoils. A coped gable is topped with a squat fleur-de-lys stone finial.

The southwest side features two storeys and two windows for the southeast wing. The upper left and lower right windows are of Georgian proportions, while the lower left and upper right windows are in plain openings with lintels. The upper right window is mullioned with three lights and has a carved zig-zag band above, flanked by incised quatrefoils. The northwest wing has three door openings, one blocked. A late 20th-century boarded door is visible.

The interior has been extensively altered. The southeast wing, now divided into two rooms per floor, was likely the site of the original great hall. An embedded oak hood-beam suggests a former walled-up inglenook centrally located on the northeast wall. A Victorian stone fireplace is positioned in the east corner. The walled-up space is reportedly concealing a spiral stair. Original features include stop-chamfered oak beams, and a massive, altered oak queen-strut truss in the attic which now accommodates a doorway. Brought-in balusters line a plain, straight staircase.