Millrigg And Dwelling Adjoining To North West

Millrigg and Dwelling Adjoining to North West, Culgaith

This is a Grade II* listed house with a complex building history. The principal structure dates to 1597, when it was built for Henry and Bridget Birbeck, as recorded in a dated panel on the gable of the rear wing. The house was purchased in the same year by John Dalston, whose initials and the date 1597 appear on the lintel of the rear wing's east door. A further date of 1669 is recorded on a reset panel bearing the Dalston Arms in the hood mould of the same door. The building retains an older core and may preserve evidence of an earlier longhouse form.

The house is constructed of coursed rubble red sandstone with ashlar quoins and a graduated slate roof with stone copings and end stacks.

The plan is L-shaped. The north west range was originally single storey, whilst the north east range was extended eastward by two bays during the 19th century. The floor plan contains evidence of an earlier core.

The garden (south east) elevation shows the original building with two bays and two storeys, featuring a gabled rear wing and a projecting angle stair turret. Two modern roof lights are present, alongside a single original 2-light mullioned ground floor window. The outer bays contain French windows with replacement sashes, including a Yorkshire sliding sash; all windows have hood moulds, several recently restored. The gabled rear wing has an original 2-light mullioned window below the dated panel inscribed "1597 H.B. B.B.". The stair turret has a single small window opening. The main entrance displays a 4-centred arch with a dated door lintel reading "I D 1597" with a central carved pentagram beneath a decorated hood mould. Above this is a square panel bearing the Dalston Coat of Arms dated 1669 with a raised and decorated surround. The 19th-century 2-bay, 2-storey extension to the east has a single roof light and a French door to the ground floor.

The left return features a stone gable end with a 3-light mullioned window and a single square first-floor window, with two small single-light openings to the attic floor. The lower portions of the gable are obscured by a 20th-century single-storey lean-to structure, which also obscures an original external door and ground floor window openings. The rendered north west wing has four bays and two storeys with the remains of a substantial stone plinth at its south end.

On the courtyard (north west) elevation, the original 2-bay building has a door inserted within an original window opening to the right, with a 2-light mullioned window above and a second 2-light mullioned window to the ground floor. A 19th-century sash has been inserted to the first floor left. All openings are under hood moulds, many recently restored. The 19th-century extension has a single sash window on the first floor with a large modern opening beneath.

The right return comprises a 4-bay, 2-storey rendered west wing containing sash windows to the ground floor, including one unhorned example, and metal casements to the first floor.

Interior

The ground floor contains two rooms of unequal size separated by a cross passage with an original segmental-headed doorway through the south wall. The west room contains a large inglenook with a 4-centred arch initialled I.D., separated from an L-shaped passage by oak-panelled partitions. The north passage has two doorways, the left-hand one with a segmental head and the other bearing a dated lintel of 1597 with the initials I.D. The east passage contains two doorways; the left-hand gives entry to the east room, which has a 17th-century carved shouldered stone fireplace with floral decoration, whilst the other opens into a semi-circular stair turret. The turret contains an original heavily boarded door with strap hinges and a 4-centred head. The newel stair within the turret rises to the first floor, where a former dovecot occupies the rear gable with stone nest boxes arranged around a square window opening. The first floor has been partitioned; an original 2-light mullioned window in the gable end of the original building is visible from inside the eastern extension, which also contains a contemporary stone chimney piece with a metal grate inset. Carved stone fireplaces are present in each of the two original first floor rooms; that in the east room has a central keystone with floral decoration, whilst that in the west room is an elaborate shouldered example with a decorative keystone. A newel stair within the wall rises from the first floor west room to the attic, which features queen strut roof trusses, one of which formed an original partition. The former north west kitchen wing, now enlarged as a separate dwelling, was raised to create a second floor during the 1930s. Internal features in this section include a 19th-century chimney piece and grate, a stone inglenook, and a reset cupboard, possibly a former spice cupboard.

History and Development

The building may retain an earlier core. The present house is considered to date from 1597 and was constructed for Henry and Bridget Birkbeck, passing to John Dalston in the same year. The Dalston family had resided in Westmoreland since 1544, when they purchased nearby Acorn Bank from the Crown. The original building was extended to the north east by two bays in the later 18th or early 19th century. The single-storey west range was raised to provide a second storey during the mid-1930s. A 20th-century lean-to has been added to the west of the west range, and further internal alterations took place during the 1990s.