Description

ROBOROUGH
SS 5717
19/175 Rapson Court Farmhouse
-
GV II

Shown on O.S. map as East Rapson.
Farmhouse. Probably late C15 or early C16, altered in the early to mid C19. Mid to
late C19 additions and minor alterations. Rendered cob on stone rubble plinth, front
and left-hand end walls refaced (if not rebuilt) in squared stone rubble (cob verge
to gable end). Gable-ended wheatstraw thatched roof. Brick axial stacks. C19
addition of stone rubble with some gault brick dressings and gable-ended Welsh-slate
roof with C20 bitumen covering.
Plan and development: Three-room and through-passage plan, facing south (ground
falls to left). Hall with axial stack backing onto former through passage to left of
hall, former inner room to right with integral end stack and former service room at
the left-hand end of the house (present kitchen) with integral end stack. The hall
was probably formerly open to the roof (see late ceiling) and the first floor only
inserted in the C17 when the stack was probably inserted. The inner room and service
rooms probably had first floors from the outset (see large joists in inner room) but
the end stacks are also probably C17 insertions. The house was probably partly
refaced in the C17 and the roof was possibly rebuilt at the same time too (roof-space
not inspected). The staircase was inserted in the rear of the through passage
(blocking the rear doorway of the passage) in the mid to late C19, although it is
possible that it replaces an earlier inserted staircase. Mid to late C19 wing
projecting at right angles to rear of hall, incorporating a dairy with loft above.
Late C19 range of outbuildings at rear of kitchen too (ground-floor windows with
stone cills). The plan strongly suggests that the house was formerly a late Medieval
open hall but the roof-space was inaccesible at the time of survey (February 1988) so
it was not possible to confirm the presence of a smoke-blackened roof. Two storeys
with C19 additions of one storey and loft and one storey.
Exterior: Roughly-symmetrical front; 4 first-floor windows and 3 ground-floor
windows, all late C20 two-and three-light wooden casements in old openings with
wooden lintels. Right-hand ground-floor window replaces a former doorway (see
straight joints below). Doorway between the first and second ground-floor windows
from the left with C19 half-glazed door, wooden frame and wooden lintel. Ground-floor
windows with stone cills. C20 bracketed lean-to porch. Dairy wing at rear has a
loft doorway with a plank door, wooden frame and stone flat-arched head, and is
approached by an external flight of stone steps with slate treads and a former kennel
below. Four pigeon nesting holes in wall above loft doorway. The right-hand side
wall has a 2-light window with a stone flat-arched head and a plank doorway to its
right with brick reveals and a brick segmental-arched head. Two small windows in the
left-hand side wall.
Interior: Hall has C20 ceiling and C17 fireplace altered in the C20 but retaining an
old cloam oven. Former inner room has large joists spanning left to right, small
fireplace with stone jambs and chamfered wooden lintel (opening reduced in width at
some time), and old cupboard in wall to left of fireplace which has 2 one-panelled
doors with shaped H-hinges. The passage has a C17 chamfered half beam along the
right-hand wall (rear of hall stack) and a C19 matchboarded dado. C19 staircase to
rear of passage with winders at top and at foot, C19 matchboarding to sides and
landing balustrade with stick balusters (the staircase formerly had a plank door at
the foot). Kitchen has a chamfered cross beam and a chamfered half beam to the left-
hand end. C17 open fireplace with wooden lintel and plain C19 architrave. Bench to
right of fireplace and old cupboard behind with plank door and shaped hinges. Old
plank doors between kitchen and passage and between kitchen and former pump house at
rear. First-floor with bedrooms to front and passage to rear.
Roof-space inaccesible. The feet of trusses with straight principals are visible
from the first-floor rooms as are large purlins over the inner-room (right-hand) end
of the house.

Listing NGR: SS5738017939

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26595034

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014