West Scale

This is a farmhouse, likely dating from the later 17th century, though it has undergone alterations. It is currently derelict and was recently used as a store. The farmhouse is constructed from coursed sandstone rubble, with quoins, and has a stone slate roof. It features a single-depth plan of two unequal bays, aligned on a north-east/south-west axis, facing south-east. There are remnants of a former two-storey porch at the front and a semi-cylindrical stair turret at the rear.

The exterior presents two storeys and three windows, arranged in a 2:1 grouping. A square-headed doorway is centrally located at ground-floor level, above which is a narrower doorway; both are topped with slab lintels, framed by damaged masonry and the bases of the former porch’s side walls. Two small, formerly mullioned 2-light windows are positioned on each floor to the left, with moulded surrounds to the ground-floor windows and simpler surrounds above, with one blocked. The ground-floor windows retain the stools of their former chamfered flush mullions, and holes for saddle bars are visible in their sills and lintels. A doorway has been inserted to replace a former window at the right-hand ground floor, while the upper floor retains a window similar to those on the left. A gable chimney is visible to the right, while a former, missing gable chimney to the left is not corbelled. The roof ridge sags significantly. A small, set-back lean-to is attached to the east gable wall.

The interior includes stone lateral partition walls; the wall to the left was inserted under one of two chamfered beams. There is a rectangular fireplace in the housepart, with a recess to the left for a former built-in cupboard. A stone winder staircase ascends, with a narrow flight continuing up the partition wall to what was formerly an attic. A barrel-shaped fireplace is found in the chamber above the parlour, although there is none in the parlour itself. The roof over the housepart is of original construction, featuring a collarless principal rafter truss, with two pairs of lapped purlins and original rafters. The building forms a group with East Scale, approximately 100 metres south, and occupies a remote, romantically desolate site at the head of Grisdale.