History in Structure

Former Farmhouse Adjoining to East of Low West Thickley Farmhouse

A Grade II Listed Building in Shildon, County Durham

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Coordinates

Latitude: 54.6251 / 54°37'30"N

Longitude: -1.6752 / 1°40'30"W

OS Eastings: 421065

OS Northings: 525600

OS Grid: NZ210256

Mapcode National: GBR JGRY.3T

Mapcode Global: WHC5G.70JN

Plus Code: 9C6WJ8GF+2W

Entry Name: Former Farmhouse Adjoining to East of Low West Thickley Farmhouse

Listing Date: 24 February 1986

Last Amended: 16 October 2017

Grade: II

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1160179

English Heritage Legacy ID: 112182

Also known as: Barn adjoining to east of Low West Thickley Farmhouse

ID on this website: 101160179

Location: Shildon, County Durham, DL4

County: County Durham

Civil Parish: Shildon

Traditional County: Durham

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): County Durham

Church of England Parish: Shildon

Church of England Diocese: Durham

Tagged with: Stable Farmhouse Barn

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Summary


Farmhouse, later C17, converted to a stable with hayloft over in the mid-C19.

Description


Farmhouse, later C17, converted to a stable with hayloft over in the mid-C19.

MATERIALS: coursed sandstone rubble

PLAN: two units with cross passage.

EXTERIOR: a two-storey, five bay building with dressed quoins. The main S-facing elevation has two-storeys and five-bays, the later left bay breaking forward. There is an original blocked doorway in the third bay, which has chamfered jambs and a tall monolithic lintel with a cambered top. Immediately to the left of the doorway there is a small, blocked fire-window. Flanking the central doorway there are blocked, three-light, chamfered-mullioned windows to the ground floor. To the first floor, the bay immediately above the entrance is blind and is flanked by identical, partly-blocked mullioned windows. The slightly projecting, later left bay contains a blocked doorway with a crude flush lintel. The steeply-pitched roof with pantiles described in the List entry is now missing (the partial remains of the timber structure lies within the interior of the building). The rear N-facing elevation reflects the mid-C19 stable conversion and has a pair of door openings, each with a small window to their left and a partial pitching door to the first floor; both ground floor openings have lost their stable doors described in the List entry. To the right of the stable doors there is an elliptical brick-arched cart opening, and a stone stairway to the far right formerly led to the first-floor.

INTERIOR: there is an inserted C18 central stone fireplace set against the rear of the front wall with monolithic jambs and lintel; this fireplace is set against the blocked fire window indicating that it is a secondary feature. There is also an inserted mid-C19 brick partition.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the small building attached to the E gable of the former farmhouse is not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

This building is considered to have originated as a later-C17 dwelling, probably a farmhouse. Its domestic function is clearly indicated by the form of the main S-facing elevation, and its date is indicated by its overall vernacular character and the nature of its stone mullioned windows. The dwelling is considered to be a two unit plan with a cross passage separating a higher status and heated upper end (W) from a lower unheated space (E). The former cross passage ran N-S from the main entrance to an opposing entrance on the rear wall. A small (blocked) window immediately to the left of the main entrance on the S elevation is a characteristic 'fire window' and would have lit a large inglenook fireplace, situated against the W wall of the former cross passage. In the mid-C19 this dwelling was converted to a stable. The window and door openings to the original domestic S elevation were blocked with stone, and the N elevation became the new stable front, with door and window openings inserted including a cart entrance. An external stair gave access to a first floor hay loft. The building is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of the area published in 1859 as part of a wider farmstead, and it retains the same footprint down to the present day. The roof structure and parts of the upper walls were lost in the early C21.

Reasons for Listing

This former farmhouse of late C17 date with mid-C19 alterations is listed for the following principal reasons:
* Date: as a relatively rare example of a stone-built vernacular dwelling that pre-dates 1700;
* Architectural interest: it retains a number of significant features such as an original entrance, fire window and several stone-mullioned windows, and its conversion to a mid-C19 stable is legible;
* Plan form: this is an evolved building but its original two-unit plan with cross passage is readable;
* Level of survival: a significant proportion of original and later historic fabric remains to confirm the special interest of the building.

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