Llowes Court

Llowes Court is a house dating from the 17th century, with later alterations, situated within a rural setting. The building is constructed of rubble stone, largely harled in the mid-to-late 20th century, and has slate roofs with some stone slates on a wing. It is two storeys and has an attic. The main range originally comprised a hall and parlour. The hall has a central, two-and-a-half-storey porch superimposed on a gable at its north end, while the parlour end has a wing with a gable stack to the east, now incorporating a secondary entrance to a stair passage and kitchen. A planked and nailed door, set in a chamfered oak frame (largely replaced in the 20th century), is located within the porch. An external stone stack to the hall, situated beside the porch, terminates with two diagonally set stone flues. The windows are predominantly timber, with iron casements and leaded glazing, in two- and three-light arrangements. The north gable of the main range features five diagonally mullioned oak windows on two floors, to the left of the external gable stack. The west elevation originally had three bays of 12-pane sash windows. A later slated porch and 19th-century door have been added, superseding the original door immediately to the south, which was adapted into a low window in the 19th century. A two-storey block, of lower height, was added in the 19th century to the south, featuring three-light windows on each floor and a gable stack. A lean-to with a corrugated asbestos roof abuts the south end.

Internally, a previously blocked lateral stack to the hall, adjacent to the porch, remains. The hall retains five closely-spaced chamfered cross beams, with a further cross beam along the partition wall to the parlour, which also has three cross beams. The house has flagged floors and exceptionally high ceilings. Fragmentary moulded plaster ceilings survive at first floor level, with one featuring reed-moulded panels and another exhibiting moulded ribs, alternating roses and fleur-de-lys. An axial stack is located at the south end, with a chamfered fire lintel. A winding stair runs alongside this stack to the first floor. The main dog-leg stair includes a dado, moulded ramped handrail, and fine moulded balusters with a wavy profile. A 16-pane sash window illuminates the stair well in the gable end of the wing, alongside a moulded trimmer. A panelled first-floor room has tall raised fields and a heavy cornice. The roof structure incorporates trusses with tenoned collars and through purlins; one truss has been recorded as inscribed with the date 1773. The interior was not fully accessible during inspection in August 1995.