Agricultural ranges, boundary walls and cobbled yard at The Ashes

Agricultural Ranges, Boundary Walls and Cobbled Yard at The Ashes

A group of agricultural buildings and boundary walls dating from the early 19th century, with some components of varying earlier dates. The structures are constructed principally from coursed, roughly squared pink sandstone (Greystoke Pink) with tooled ashlar dressings and Lakeland slate roofs.

The farm buildings are arranged in an L-shaped configuration attached to the north gable of a mid-16th century house, with a smaller barn at the end of the range. A former barn of similar date is also attached to the south gable of the house. The farm buildings enclose two sides of a rectangular cobbled yard, while boundary walls enclose both this yard and the garden at the east front of the house.

The multi-functional L-shaped two-storey farm range comprises a former stable, now incorporated into the domestic accommodation of the attached house. This section retains a former stable door and pitching door above, both set within alternating stone surrounds, and features a pair of slit vents to the rear wall. To the right is a large segmental-arched entrance passage with raised imposts and keystones, with a pair of small loft windows above. A barn is attached to the right of this arched passage, with a projecting entry porch to the north elevation fitted with double boarded doors beneath a timber lintel and a pent roof. Small bricked-up openings on the west elevation indicate the former presence of a secondary horse gang, now removed. An opposing and similar pent-roofed porch is situated to the east elevation, continued southwards as a shallow external two-bay aisle with timber lintels. The barn's north gable has a single slit vent.

A granary range runs west-east at right angles from the north end of the barn. The first part is a cart shed formed of an arcade of three round-headed and keyed arches, with three windows with simple stone surrounds and a pitching door above. The remainder of the range has a door to a ground floor byre with a slit vent to either side, and further slit vents and a pitching door above. The east gable has several small windows, three slit vents and a rectangular opening to the apex forming an owl hole.

Attached to the east end of the L-shaped agricultural range is a narrower, single-storey, three-bay barn with a continuous roof line and a pitched roof of graduated stone slates. The first bay has a stable door to a loose box, the second bay has an arched opening, and the third gabled, projecting bay has a full-width vehicular opening with a timber lintel and a small window to the apex.

Attached to the south gable of the house is a lower, set-back 19th century red sandstone agricultural building with a hip-ended roof and 20th century door and windows.

The interior of the double-arched cart shed beneath the granary features a cobbled floor; all other floors are concrete. The ground floor of the granary range contains a 20th century concrete byre and an inserted timber loft. The first-floor granary is reached via an internal stone stair in the north end of the range. The bottom barn comprises a loose box, a store and a stable with three 20th century timber stalls. The roof structure incorporates re-used mid-16th century timbers. The south barn has an entirely modern interior.

The rectangular cobbled yard features neatly-laid, in-situ cobbles. The east and south-east corner of the cobbled yard is bounded by a stone wall that continues to form the west and south sides of the house garden. This wall comprises several different phases and retains evidence of former openings and fragments of earlier buildings.