Low Whita (Bells) Farm (west)

Low Whita (Bells) Farm is a pair of farmhouses of possibly pre-17th century origins, but mainly 17th century with later alterations. Both passed into agricultural use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The buildings are constructed of local gritstone rubble laid to courses, with the south wall of the western house being of notably higher quality. The roofs are covered in local sandstone slates.

Although altered for agricultural purposes, the original 18th century plan form of both houses remains understandable. Each was of single depth with a near-central entrance in the south wall, originally giving direct access to the main ground-floor room to the west, with a separate heated room to the east. Both houses have stair turrets projecting from the western end of their north walls, accessed from the main room. Linking the two houses is a single bay, a 17th century smoke-bay that originally served the western house.

Exterior

The range is of two storeys and faces south. It can be seen in three parts: at the west end, a two-bay house with partially truncated end stacks; a single bay to its east with a ground-floor fire window (the 17th century smoke-bay of the western house); then a three-bay house at the east end that has lost its gable end chimney stacks above the roof line.

South Elevation

The western house has its front door nearly central between the later chimney stacks. The doorway is quoined with a substantial monolithic lintel and a slightly projecting drip stone above, and is chamfered. While most of the masonry of this south wall is thought to be late 17th or early 18th century rebuilding, this doorway is considered part of an even earlier phase of stone rebuilding, probably contemporary with the early stonework to the south-west corner. To the right (east) is an inserted doorway, considered to be early 19th century, and beyond this a window which is part of the late 17th or early 18th century rebuilding. This window is square with monolithic, straight-chamfered jambs, sill and lintel, which are considered to have been reused from earlier 17th century mullioned windows. Above the lintel there is a slightly projecting dripstone. The window directly above at first-floor level is similar and also appears contemporary with the walling, but again made up of earlier 17th century elements. The first-floor window opening to the west has been modified but retains a substantial chamfered 17th century lintel. Walling to the ground floor west of the original front door has been rebuilt for an inserted door and window, probably late 19th century or later.

The smoke-bay, excepting the lowest courses, shows a clear butt joint with the house to the east and an irregular boundary with the rebuilt masonry to the west. The eaves line is slightly lower than that to the west and higher by a single course than the eaves of the house to the east. There are clear indications that the eaves have been raised by about five courses. The bay has three openings: an in situ 17th century ground-floor fire window, an inserted first-floor taking-in door, and a first-floor slit window.

The eastern house has its near-central front door irregularly quoined, with the jambs finished with a bold roll-moulding supporting a substantial lintel that carries extensive inscribed carving. This carving is irregularly laid out and weathered but is thought to read "J C H 1680 ANNO DOMINI", embellished by a central bowl and flanked by incised diamonds. Above there is a projecting dripstone. To the right (east) is an inserted doorway with a roughly blocked window opening beyond, considered to be 17th century but formed from reused stonework. This is a two-light chamfered, mullioned window with a rough projecting dripstone set above. To the left of the front door are two inserted doorways, the eastern one probably enlarged from an original window opening. There are three first-floor windows, all with altered openings, the eastern and western retaining elements of 17th century windows. The first-floor window lintels coincide with the original eaves level.

North Elevation

For the western house including the smoke-bay, there is no break in the stonework between the smoke-bay and the rest of the house to the west, and there are clear indications that they had a continuous eaves line before the eaves were raised to provide shallower roof pitches. There is a clear but undulating horizontal break in the stonework around four to six courses above ground level, with this stonework appearing continuous with the eastern partition wall of the smoke-bay. Within this lowest section of walling there are three distinct vertical breaks which might correspond to bay divisions of an earlier timber building. The north elevation is blind except for: a slit window high up in the rectangular projecting stair turret at the west end of the elevation; a small inserted window to the centre of the ground floor; a now-blocked ground-floor fire window to the single bay at the west end; and above this, an inserted taking-in door.

The eastern house has a rectangular stair turret projecting from the west end of the north wall, which is an early addition pre-dating the raising of the eaves. The north elevation is blind except for three irregularly sized and spaced ground-floor muck-hole openings that are clearly inserted. Breaks in the stonework suggest that the western opening may have been inserted into a larger blocked opening, possibly a two-light window. Similar to the western house, but less clear, there is a horizontal break in the stonework near the base of the wall.

Interior

The interior has been largely stripped out for agricultural use. The floor structure for the first floor is renewed, as is the roof structure, although the latter is mainly traditionally detailed and jointed and some sections retain earlier timber. The west gable of the west house retains an infilled 18th century kitchen fireplace on the ground floor with a simple timber mantelshelf inscribed with the name "Close" (the family name of the owners from the 17th to mid-19th century). The first floor retains an 18th century hob grate fireplace. The partition wall between the houses retains a blocked ground-floor doorway. The east house retains its spiral stone staircase, missing its top one or two steps. Wall plaster on the first floor includes 19th and early 20th century graffiti, including inscribed daisy wheel designs which could be 17th or 18th century apotropaic marks. The ground floor retains an early blocked fireplace to the east gable.

Subsidiary Items

Barn

A two-bay barn that was originally single-storey with a steeply pitched thatch roof, raised to two storeys under a stone slate roof probably in the late 18th or 19th century. The altering of the roof line is clearly shown in the north gable. The barn has two ground-floor doorways on the east side, the southern one set beneath the landing for an external stone stair to a centrally placed first-floor doorway. Set high in the south gable (but at cart height because of the rising ground) is a taking-in doorway. On the west elevation there is a ground-floor window and first-floor ventilation slits. The roof structure retains hewn timbers. Internally the building retains a masonry partition wall and two substantial door lintels which could be reused fragments of a cruck-framed building.

Cow House

A single-storey, three-bay addition attached to the western end of the domestic range but set at a slight angle. This was expanded to the south after 1910 with the replacement of its south wall with brick pillars supporting the light-weight timber roof structure covered in corrugated iron. The interior is fitted out with 20th century concrete stalls.