Catholes Farmhouse

Catholes Farmhouse

Farmhouse in Sedbergh, dating to the 17th century and enlarged and heightened at an early date, then remodelled in the late 19th or early 20th century with a rear addition. At the time of survey in March 1995, the building was unoccupied and undergoing work.

The walls are built of mixed random rubble and boulders with stone quoins, set on a plinth of large boulders, with a slate roof. The building follows a linear three-unit plan on an east-west axis, with coupled rear outshuts in two builds beneath one catslide roof.

The exterior presents two storeys with two windows in the left bay and four in the right bay. The larger four-window portion was probably originally single-storeyed, as indicated by quoins to the junction at first-floor level only in the two-window portion. The left bay features an early 20th-century gabled porch of yellow brick beside this junction, with a doorway in the right-hand side and coupled windows to the front with coloured margin panes. An early 20th-century wooden cross-window sits to the left, with two smaller first-floor windows above; the left-hand window lacks glazing and is boarded externally, while the right-hand one has a 20th-century wooden mullion. The four-window portion has a blocked former doorway offset to the right at ground level, with an early 20th-century three-light mullioned window inserted beneath a decayed wooden lintel. A two-light mullioned window to the right has a 20th-century wooden mullion replacing the original chamfered stone mullion, and now lacks the sill. A large dilapidated early 20th-century rectangular bay window and a narrow one-light fire-window with a yellow brick surround occupy the left side. The first floor contains a blocked two-light chamfered stone mullion window to the left, and three two-light casements with 20th-century wooden mullions and lintels, all in various states of decay. The rear C19 outshut has a doorway in the side wall and a long shallow multi-light window beneath the eaves.

The interior contains a complete 17th-century muntin-and-rail partition immediately east of the blocked former doorway, dividing the central housepart from a small parlour at the front of the third bay and a small pantry to its rear. The housepart has two large lateral beams with small chamfer and exposed joists tenoned into them, with stopped small chamfer on those between the beams. An altered fireplace with an ex situ panelled surround occupies one wall, beside a small square recess for a former spice cupboard; the original stone-flagged floor has been removed. The parlour and pantry are separated by a stud-and-plaster partition wall, now with a wide gap formerly occupied by a built-in wooden cupboard, which has recently been removed. The parlour features a Dent marble fireplace. The pantry is entirely whitewashed except for the floor, and contains a stone shelf. Its rear wall retains an original four-light mullioned window with original chamfered oak frame and mullions (one replaced), with the splayed reveal blocked internally; this window is visible from within the rear outshut. Above it sits a similar two-light window now lacking the mullion. The west bay contains a large lateral beam and a Dent marble fireplace at ground floor, with an early 20th-century staircase built across a wide segmental recess, possibly created for a former newel stair. The roof structure includes one upper-cruck truss in the west bay and two principal-rafter trusses with short angle struts in the remaining part.

This is a building of considerable interest, eloquent of several early phases of construction. It forms a group with a former barn approximately 20 metres to the north-west.