Townhead

Townhead is a farmhouse that likely dates from the mid-16th century, with extensions and alterations marked internally as 1667, and further modifications dated 1727, which include the inscription T & SD and the phrase TE DEUM LAUDAMUS. Additional changes were made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building features cement render over sandstone rubble walls and has a graduated greenslate roof with banded ashlar chimney stacks.

It stands two storeys high and consists of three bays, with a two-bay extension on the right that shares a common roof. The lower right extension is a two-storey, two-bay structure from the 18th century. The left section has a central 20th-century door set within a round-headed 18th-century surround, complete with false imposts and a keystone. The windows are primarily sash types set in 19th-century stone surrounds, with an enlarged fire window; the upper-floor windows are beneath a continuous hoodmould that covers the three original windows.

The right section includes one original window with a chamfered surround under a hoodmould, although its stone mullion has been removed. The upper-floor windows here have 19th-century surrounds, also under a continuous hoodmould of the two original windows. The right extension features a 20th-century door in an 18th-century stone surround, one of the stones of which is inscribed. The upper floor has a large three-light window from the 18th century, while the remaining windows are sashes in 19th-century stone surrounds.

At the rear, there is an outshut from two periods: the right part has a chamfered-surround window with its mullion removed, while the left stair outshut covers a Tudor-arched doorway. Other upper-floor windows have chamfered surrounds with removed stone mullions, all under hoodmoulds. The extension includes a blocked doorway and another doorway featuring a reused Tudor lintel.

Inside, the farmhouse retains many original features, including an 18th-century stone fireplace with flanking cupboard recesses within a 17th-century inglenook that has a stone heck and firebeam. The full ceiling beams include a central beam dated 1667, and there is another beam in the passage also dated 1667. Behind the 17th-century inglenook is an 18th-century inglenook. The outshut contains a spiral stone staircase that leads from the ground floor to the first floor; this staircase may have originated from Blencow Hall or could be part of this 16th-century house.