Raby Cote And Adjoining Barn

A mid-16th century farmhouse with an adjoining barn, originally built for the Chambers family. Significant alterations were made in the early or mid-17th century, with further additions in the 18th and 20th centuries. The barn is dated and inscribed on a stone in its rear wall as being built by John and Margaret Chambers in 1675. The building is constructed of squared and coursed red sandstone from Holme Cultram Abbey, featuring flush quoins and a reused chamfered plinth bearing an inverted inscription reading GILBERT LAMOTTE, JOHN DE BOTHILL, VICAR OF BURG, indicating the year was 1313 (during the reign of Robert, Abbot of Holm, and of Our Lord MDXIII, VIII Henry King), thought to have been taken from the chapterhouse of the Abbey. The roof is covered with 20th-century sandstone-effect tiles, with cement-rendered chimney stacks.

The farmhouse is two storeys tall, comprising four bays, with a lower single-bay brick extension to the right; a slightly higher, two-storey, two-bay barn adjoins to the left. A 20th-century door is set within a painted chamfered surround. 20th-century casement windows are found within enlarged surrounds, with those on the upper floor set within chamfered surrounds. The 18th-century brick extension has a 20th-century door and casement window within painted stone surrounds. One upper-floor sash window incorporates tracery panels originally from the Abbey. A rear, cement-rendered farmhouse wall is a 20th-century addition. The barn is also of Abbey stone, with a 20th-century green tile roof. Two 20th-century garage doors have been cut through previously blocked stone-surround windows. A loft plank door is positioned over a coat of arms panel from the Abbey. The barn’s rear wall contains a sculpted stone depicting the Virgin & Child, alongside the Abbey’s arms and a Latin inscription. Further sculpted stone displays the coat of arms of Robert Chambers, Abbot of Holme Cultram. The left-hand part of the barn’s rear wall contains blocked 2-light stone-mullioned windows that originally belonged to the 16th-century house, and now form a thick internal passage wall within the farmhouse. An internal niche in the passage was likely a fire window. The front room features a fire beam and a beamed ceiling, with matching beams found in the bedroom above. A rear farmhouse extension contains unusual painted tin ceilings designed to emulate 17th-century moulded plasterwork. A right-angled brick extension to the barn is considered not noteworthy.