Scarrow Hill

Scarrow Hill

A house built in 1601, converted to a coaching inn in the mid-18th century, later divided into two cottages, and subsequently returned to a single dwelling.

The walls are constructed from neatly squared and coursed grey carboniferous sandstone, reused from Hadrian's Wall, laid in regular straight courses and averaging 0.62 metres thick. Red sandstone window surrounds, a slate roof, and industrial brick chimneystacks complete the external finishes.

The original plan comprised a possible blacksmith's forge on the ground floor to the west, with living accommodation above and probably alongside. The building now has a two-unit ground floor with an inserted staircase to the first floor and rear outshuts.

The main north elevation is two storeys and four bays under a steeply pitched roof with end gable stacks. The building features flush quoins and traces of a boulder plinth. Attached single-storey porches with shallow pitched roofs flank the elevation. The fenestration is semi-symmetrical in character, offset to the left to accommodate an original large hearth on the west gable. Many windows have been fitted into existing openings. The two ground floor end windows have finely cut surrounds and are fitted with replacement six-over-six sash windows. Two smaller inserted windows sit between them; the left-hand window is inserted into a blocked former entrance, and the right-hand window is believed to replace a smaller opening. The first floor contains a central two-light mullioned window, flanked on either side by plain window openings similar to the ground floor end windows, also with replacement frames.

The rear south elevation features an outshut with three inserted windows and a doorway, with a modern conservatory at the west end. Attached porches have shoulder-arched entrances. The verges of the gable ends show evidence of former skew stones, indicating the presence of a former thatched roof.

Internally, the ground floor contains two mid-18th-century red sandstone fireplaces with pyramidal stops and three ceiling beams running from front to back, only one of which is visible; the other two are boxed in. The remainder of the ground and first floors is largely 20th-century in date.

The original oak roof structure comprises three intermediate principal rafters with tie beam-and-collar trusses. The collars of each truss are slightly cambered and each carries double, backed purlins to each pitch. The structure is of good quality with mortice and tenon joints and almost square joints, secured with single wooden pegs throughout. The trusses have assembly marks in the form of single, double, or triple crescents or half-moons, a form considered uncommon in Northern England. The oak beams are understood to have been formed from between six and nine individual trees that have been halved with a fine-bladed saw, with their rounded outer faces trimmed and roughly squared with an adze or axe.

The roof structure contains a number of Apotropaic marks, otherwise known as Witch marks. Motifs include egg timers and daisy wheels, marks considered to protect a building from evil spirits, witches, or their animal familiars. Within the roof space, now partially occupied by an inserted brick flue, is an original recessed slot approximately four feet wide and 14 inches deep, marking the position of the original early 17th-century flue and former smoke hood.