Slatenber farmhouse

Slatenber Farmhouse

This farmhouse is thought to date from around 1700, extended and refronted probably in the early 19th century with later alterations. It is built of stone rubble, formerly limewashed, with a roof of sandstone and Ingleton slate.

The building follows a direct-entry double pile plan with an additional western bay. It stands on the north side of the road, accompanied by garden walls, gates, posts and associated agricultural buildings to the east.

The house rises two storeys. The walling is stone rubble with a slobbered mortar finish and traces of limewash. The south front features alternating quoins at left and right, a moulded cornice-gutter with shaped corbels and shaped kneelers. Three evenly-spaced pairs of vertically-aligned windows are set across the front, with entrances either side of the central pair; the left entrance and windows belong to the former cottage. At the time of inspection in April 2017, the upper left-hand window opening was formed within a brick-and-blockwork wall erected behind a large irregular opening in the stone walling. All other windows have plain stone surrounds with stooled sills. The four right-hand windows are timber vertical sliding sashes with central glazing bars. The left-hand doorway also has a plain surround. The right-hand entrance sits within a gabled open porch with flagged roof and terracotta finial, and has moulded imposts to the jambs, a basket-arched lintel, and a timber four-panel door with the upper two panes glazed. The front pitch is roofed in Ingleton slates, and there are end stacks with a ridge stack between the cottage and the house.

The west wall is gabled with a shaped kneeler at the right. It is asymmetrical, with a shallower, wider pitch to the left of the ridge stack. A first-floor opening lies immediately beneath the scar of the roof of a building which once stood further to the west, and may be a small doorway giving access to this former roof-space. At the left are alternating quoins and a small corner stack.

The rear north wall has quoins at the right. A straight joint a third of the length from the right marks the junction of the cottage at the right with the house at the left. This joint also has alternating quoins to the house at the left. The cottage entrance is against this joint, with the right jamb quoined as well, and a ledged plank door. This and the cottage's open central first-floor window opening each have large stone lintels. The cottage has two altered smaller ground-floor windows. The house has a lean-to outshut at the left rising to the eaves. To the right of this is the ground-floor stair window, altered from a two-light mullioned window, the left light now blocked and the right extended to ground level. To the right of this is a lean-to porch with asbestos-sheet roof, above which is a small window with hollow-chamfered surround; a similar window stands to the right of the porch. All windows are modern timber replacements. The roof is of sandstone flags laid in diminishing sizes, with grey slate to the outshut. The outshut is quoined on its exterior angles, with a plank door in its right return and window opening in the rear wall, each with large lintels and quoined jambs. Against the outshut's left return, stone steps lead up to a small doorway against the house, with a very small window opening to its right. At the top of the steps, a wall runs from the rear angle of the house eastwards, protecting the rear yard.

The east wall of the house has an external chimney breast, offset to the left and stepping rightwards to form a stack at the ridge. At the right are two hollow-chamfered windows, single-light at first floor and rebated with a mullion at ground-floor. There is a shaped kneeler at the left.

Interior

The entrance passage is stone-flagged, with stone wall to the right and partition to the left. Hewn beams are visible in the passage and the housebody to the left; in the parlour to the right and in the bedrooms they are boxed in. The windows have full-depth wide splays. The doors have moulded timber architraves, as does the stair doorway. The rear pile is reached up a stone step. The pantry in the north-east corner retains hewn joists and chamfered beams, a stone-flagged floor and ceiling, beam-corbels, stone shelving on the north and south walls, and a ledged three-plank door with limewash. The window surround is also hollow-chamfered internally. The kitchen has renewed beams. The central stair is of stone, dog-legged with two half-landings linked by two steps. The stick balusters are boxed in. The bedrooms retain ledged plank doors with latches from the 18th and early 19th centuries as well as a later door; the bedroom over the pantry has a small blocked window overlooking the stair. Above the lath-and-plaster ceilings, the roof retains many hewn purlins and rafters, and is heavily torched with lime. The interior of the cottage has a stone cross-wall with blocked doorway and retains stone lintels to the open fireplaces, and hewn beams, joists, purlins and rafters.