Scow Hall

Details

NORWOOD BRAT LANE SE 25 SW (north side, off) 7/75 Scow Hall 22.11.66 GV II*

House. C16 and C17 with early C19 addition and alteration and C20 restoration. Timber framing encased in coursed squared gritstone with graduated stone slate roof to west end and large squared gritstone blocks to east end which is roofless at time of resurvey. 2 storys and 5 bays, 3 right-hand bays in ashlar blocks, 2 left-hand ones in poorer quality stone. Facade: pointed-arched doorway with chamfered quoined jambs and hoodmould, centre. 3- and 5-light recessed and chamfered mullion windows to ground floor left, 2 similar 3-light windows above. Recessed and cavetto-moulded mullion windows to right and above the door: of 4 and 2-lights to ground floor, of 2, 3 and 2-lights above. Hollow-moulded gable coping and corniced stack to left, remains of similar coping to right. Large stack with battlemented crest straddles the ridge to left of the door; large corniced stack far right. Rear: the roofless portion has a doorway to left and a 3- light mullion window to right in the rear outshut. Centre (roofed): a C19 outshut left; right: the main wall has a former 3- now 2-light cavetto- moulded mullion window left, and an inserted 2-light window to right. A 2- light mullion window to first floor. Left return: the gable wall is built to water-shot courses. Right return: chamfered plinth, 2-light cavetto- moulded window to right (mullion missing) with a projecting stone sink to left, between window and chimney stack. Interior. 5 or more bay timber- framed building with rear aisle preserved in the cross-walls and roof trusses of the C17 building. Truss 1, between bays 1 and 2 has jowelled principal posts on padstones supporting a cambered tie beam and a king-post roof-truss infilled with paired diagonal struts parallel to the principal rafters. The 2 tiers of trenched purlins and ridge piece are restored. A stud partition with wattle and daub infill below the tie beam is supported by a beam below the present ground-floor ceiling level which has a diagonal groove on the west side indicating a former stair position. Truss 2 is on the line of the change in masonry on the-front wall; the front post is visible and the end of a horizontal timber is tenoned into it. This timber was sawn off when the massive mantel beam was inserted and the stone stack constructed. The stud partition and roof truss at first-floor level are smoke blackened on the west face and the stepped stack is built within the former smoke bay. On the ground floor a wattle and daub screen is built above the mantel beam level, inside the chimney cavity, possibly the remains of a wattle and daub firehood, or forming a side flue to an oven. A stone- lined cupboard with early C18 wooden-framed door, now occupies the probable oven position. Roof trusses 3 and 4 dismantled at the time of resurvey, but said to have been similar to nos 1 and 2. The framing of the rear aisle survives at the east end of the building: 2 principal posts with slightly curved braces carry the aisle plate; the rear right post has a less substantial brace similar to a jetty bracket. The massive east stack was built against this truss; the fireplace having a wide segmental arch flanked by ovens. During restoration the following features were noted: the underside of the wall plates had mortice and peg holes indicating the position of studs and window bars; the windows in the stone building follow the pattern of the earlier fenestration. The wall plates were composed of 2 lengths of timber linked with an edge-halved and stop-splayed joint. The rear aisle continued across the position of the present C19 rear outshut but did not continue to present west gable line. Scow Hall (spelt Scough) was occupied in the later C16 by John Beckwith. In 1596 John Brierey was the owner, his memorial (qv) is in Fewston churchyard. John Brierey died in 1613 and Mary Brierey, probably his daughter, married Charles Fairfax of Menston in 1625. Sir Ferdinando Fairfax was living at Scow in 1612 and his children were born there in 1613, 1614 and 1616, amongst them Thomas, second Lord Fairfax, Cromwell's second in command, whose main home was Denton Hall (qv). In 1715 William Wilkinson became the new owner and in 1733 it passed by marriage to the Fawkes family of Farnley Hall (qv). The house was tenanted for most of the C18 and C19, fell into decay in C20 and was used as a farmbuilding until the present owner undertook acomplete restoration which is still in progress at the time of resurvey. E Bogg, Higher Wharfeland, 1904, p 72. Ann Skelton - personal communication.

Listing NGR: SE2011552378

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

331468

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bogg, E, Higher Wharfedale, (1904), 72

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.