Cowthorpe Hall Farmhouse

SE 45 SW TOCKWITH MAIN STREET (north end, off) Cowthorpe

3/41 Cowthorpe Hall Farmhouse

II

House. C17 with possibly earlier remains and early C19 refenestration. Brown/orange brick in Flemish and random bonds to front and ashlar to rear and sides; purple slate roof. 2 storeys, 4 bays, lobby-entry plan. Limestone quoins. Half-glazed 4-panel double doors in an added porch, bay 3. 6-pane sashes in flush wood architraves throughout, apart from a 4- pane sash above entrance, all with flat arches of stretchers and projecting stone sills. A 4-course projecting string below first-floor window sill level. Cemented eaves; brick ridge stack opposite entrance and to left. The remains of 8 segmental header arches indicate the earlier ground-floor fenestration. Rear: ashlar walling with C19 fenestration and projecting service wing. Right return: central C20 door; partly blocked 3-light mullion window to right; 2-light mullion window to first floor; a blocked ovolo-moulded window to gable and an inserted window to right. Left return not seen at resurvey. Interior. The front door opens onto the side of a large chimney stack with remains of timber mantel beam and possibly other structural timberwork. The lobby wall has a plaster and wood plaque with reliefs of a deer, a hand, and the shield of Hammerton and Roucliffe under a cusped arch with poppyhead finial. The door in the right return opens onto a passage extending the full length of the house. The house probably contains substantial remains of a late medieval building. The front wall was rebuilt and the lobby-entrance plan created probably in the C17 but the proportions of the building suggest that timbering survives. The roof was not examined at resurvey. Bryan Roucliffe married Joan Hammerton and inherited the manor c1450. While the church (qv) was being rebuilt between 1456-58 the villagers had permission to use the private chapel at Cowthorpe Hall. The farmhouse appears to be on the site of the hall and possibly retains features of it. L A S Butler, Redundant Churches Fund, St Michael's Church, Cowthorpe, North Yorkshire, 1985.

Listing NGR: SE4262052792