Details
SK 0642-0742 ALTON MALTHOUSE ROAD
(West side)
1757/13/44
The Malt House
03.01.1967
GV II*
House with attached granary, and underground maltkiln and cellars. Late C17, raised and remodelled c1805-1810, with early C19, mid C19 and C20 alterations and additions. Ashlar and red brick, with ashlar dressings. Slate and plain tile roofs.
House, 2 storeys plus basement and garrets: 3 window range. First floor sill band, dentillated eaves, coped gables, 2 gable and single ridge stacks. Central stone Tuscan portico with early C19 6-panel door with 2 glazed panels. Flanked by single windows, and above, 3 windows, one renewed. These windows are glazing bar sashes with splayed lintels and keystones. Across the frontage, a stone terrace with 3 segmental cellar openings, the central opening hidden by steps. At the rear, a large glazing bar sash in a wooden surround, and above, 2 C19 2-light casements. To the right, a single bay projection, raised early C19, with a ridge stack. North side has C20 casement, and above, early C19 3-light casement. In the return angle, early C19 6-panel door and overlight. Left gable has a small first floor window, and at garret level, a round arched doorway and a smaller window with leaded glazing. The projection has a stone external stair leading to a 4-panel door, and a blocked opening in the gable.
At the NW end, a gabled outbuilding, single storey, single bay, supporting the maltkiln flue. NW gable has small openings, formerly pigeonholes, and a round stone finial. C20 lean-to addition to SW, linked to C19 gabled privy and stone trough. Board door and C19 3-light casement on NE side.
Adjoining granary, 2 storeys plus basement,2 bays, has an acutely angled corner to right, defined by quoins, and rebated eaves. To left, a large segmental opening with keystone, now blocked, flanked by square buttresses. Above, an opening blocked with an early C19 fireback. Above again, 2 small glazing bar lights, and above again, an early C19 3-light casement. At the rear, a door with ventilation slits, and above it a renewed door reached by a C19 external stone stair. Above again, an early C19 3-light casement. Gable end has segment headed openings on the uppe floors.
Outside, enclosing the rear yard, a stone boundary wall, mid C19, with 3 square piers with pyrmidal caps.
INTERIOR: House has a crosswise corridor with moulded cornice and elliptical arch. Principal room to left has original 6-panel door and C20 panelling. Late C19 fireplace flanked by elliptical-arched recesses. Principal room to right has early C19 cornice with fleurons. Off-centre cross passage has exposed spine beams, one with lambstongue stops. Rear projection has stone and brick structure covering a cellar opening. Plain stairs to first floor, with mainly C20 partitions, and plain early C19 fire surround. Round arched opening into garrets, with double-purlin roof, partly ceiled.
Granary, largely remodelled late C20, has exposed structural timbers and double purlin roof with kingpost truss. Outbuilding has single purlin roof, and contains copper and thrawl.
Cellars have brick vaulted entrance at SE end, with stone steps to the lower levels. Alongside the steps, brick and stone tanks with grain chutes in the vault above. Under the house, a stone barrel vaulted cellar, with inserted floor, C19, forming a maltkiln. At the SE end, brick round arches and the remains of the furnace. At the NW end, the kiln floor with tiles carried on a wrought iron grid supported on brick arches, and a rock-cut stairway with brick barrel vault, adapted as a flue and leading to a stack at ground level. Brick vaulted cross passages give access to the furnace and the kiln floor.
Parallel to the stone cellar, and on a lower level, a larger cellar with brick barrel vault. At the SE end, steps leading to a ground level entrance, and a square of kiln tiles defining a couching floor. On the SW side, 3 segmental vents, and a narrow barrel vaulted entrance passage containing a structure similar to a mounting block. At the NW end, a broad cross passage. This leads to a smaller barrel vaulted cellar sloping down to a ground level entrance on the nearby Horse Road.
Listing NGR: SK0710742141
