Warcop House and Brookfield House

Warcop House and Brookfield House

A detached house of early 19th-century date incorporating an earlier cottage, with a mid-to-late 19th-century west wing. The building is constructed in rendered rubble with ashlar dressings beneath graduated Welsh slate roofs with corniced stone chimneys, and is designed in the Neoclassical style.

The plan is U-shaped, with the early 19th-century dwelling positioned at the front (east end), the mid-to-late 19th-century dwelling at the west end, and the earlier building occupying the centre.

The original dwelling is symmetrical with two storeys and five bays beneath a hipped roof of graduated slate. It features rusticated quoins, a first-floor sill band, a plinth and a moulded eaves cornice with blocking course. All windows are unhorned sliding sash frames with slightly projecting stone surrounds. The central main eastern entrance comprises a six-panel door with fanlight, a four-column Ionic porch flanked on each side by a margin light. Flanking this are two pairs of tall six-over-nine sashes in moulded architraves with consoles carrying a cornice. The first floor has five six-over-six sash windows in plain stone surrounds. The left and right returns are similarly detailed with plinth, sill band and eaves cornice, each with two windows to each floor in plain stone surrounds. The rear western elevation has a central entrance with a six-panel door and geometric fanlight within a stone corniced surround, with windows to either side and a tall round-headed stair window to the first floor.

Attached to the southern end of this rear elevation is a narrow two-storey two-bay range (an earlier cottage) beneath a graduated pitched roof with ridge chimney stack. It has two six-over-six pane sash windows to each floor in stone surrounds of grey and red sandstone.

Attached to the west end of this range is the mid-to-late 19th-century west wing (Brookfield House), which mirrors the original dwelling in scale, detail and materials. It has two or two and a half storeys and three bays beneath a hipped slate roof with overhanging bracketed eaves and a pair of tall chimney stacks. All windows are unhorned sliding sash frames in plain stone surrounds. The west elevation has three bays, with the central entrance bay projecting and prominently quoined. It features a pair of stone-mullioned windows with four-over-four sashes to ground and first floor and a semi-basement window. The entrance is in the left return of the projecting bay, accessed by stone steps with stone balustrade, coping and pyramidal caps. It has a four-panel door with a blind semi-circular head and painted-on tracery. The bay to the left has a single narrow first floor window and a pair of six-over-six ground floor windows; the bay to the right has a single ground floor window. The left return has a pair of regularly-spaced first floor windows with three windows to the ground floor. The right return has a pair of two-light stone-mullioned windows to each floor, except for the ground floor right, which has three lights. The rear elevation has similar windows either side of the linking range.

The interior of the 1830s house is characterised by a complete decorative scheme of ornate and high-quality plasterwork and joinery. The main entrance opens into a spacious entrance hall with a complex ornate modillioned cornice and stone floor set with a large metal basement ventilation grille. Openings either side of the entrance hall have moulded architraves, deep panelled reveals and soffits, and ornate corniced heads. They open into lofty dining and drawing rooms, both adorned with rich foliate, fruit and floral plasterwork including cornices and ceiling roses. Joinery includes panelled window reveals, soffits and shutters. Both rooms have original early 19th-century Georgian marble chimney pieces, and the drawing room retains an historic converted gas chandelier.

An ornate rear stair hall is entered through a moulded stair arch with panelled soffits and reveals incorporating leaf ornamentation. This hall has quality plasterwork and joinery including a modillioned cornice matching that of the entrance hall. Moulded round-arched openings on either side of the stair hall lead to narrow passages with entrances to two further reception rooms. The present kitchen, thought to be an original smoking room, has a moulded cornice, shutters and panelled window soffit, with the original door retaining metal circular vents. The present snug has similar plasterwork and joinery and an early 19th-century chimneypiece. On the right side, the passage terminates at a rear external door. On the left side, the passage continues into part of the earlier rear range comprising a service room containing a 19th-century chimney piece. Stone steps lead down to a basement with a stone slab floor and fitted with stone supports and shelves.

The decorative open-string dog-leg staircase has a ramped and wreathed mahogany handrail with turned balusters; the soffit has plasterwork detail matching that of the ceiling. The first-floor plan mirrors that of the ground floor. An upper stair hall is richly decorated with fine plaster and joinery, including a wide stair arch and lit by a round-headed stair window with panelled soffit and reveals. A pair of ornate round-headed entrances lead via short passages to two principal bedrooms that retain picture rails, plain friezes and 19th-century chimney pieces with decorative Victorian hob grates. One room has panelled reveals and soffits to the windows; the second has a moulded cornice. A short passage off the landing leads to two further bedrooms with attached dressing rooms. These inter-linked rooms are similarly detailed to the principal bedrooms in terms of plaster and joinery work. One has a 19th-century marble fireplace and the other a timber fireplace, both with hob grates.

The west wing (Brookfield House) is understood to have undergone some 21st-century internal modification. Some fixtures and fittings such as cornices, panelling and shutters, while all of a piece, are replacements. The staircase, four-panel doors and architraves are original features, and the original plan form is largely retained. The entrance opens into a stair hall running the full width of the interior, with half-panelled walls and a moulded plaster cornice. All rooms are entered through four-panelled doors set within moulded architraves with deep plain reveals. Most rooms have moulded cornices and skirtings, and splayed window openings are defined by thin engaged columns with plain replacement shutters. Chimneypieces are replacement 19th-century styles. The dog-leg staircase has panelled sides and drops, an ornate newel post and handrail. The first-floor landing is similarly detailed to the ground floor, and bedrooms have similar cornices and window treatments, or are otherwise plain.