10-60, FOX LANE

Details

SD 52SW LEYLAND FOX LANE (north side)

8/29 Nos. 10 to 60 - (even nos.)

- II

Continuous row of 26 houses,with basement workshops, most (if not all) built in or before 1802 by a terminating Building Society and known originally as "Friendly Society Houses" (and formerly numbered consecutively as such); slightly concave line following road. Distinguished both architecturally and colloquially as "step-houses". Brick with stone dressings, slate roofs with 4-flue ridge chimneys. All are double-pile single fronted houses; some at west end have individual 2-storey rear extensions. Two raised storeys with basement workshops beneath; each has front door on the right approached by a flight of steps at right angles to the facade (except ground level door to No. 16), one window at ground floor level and 2 above: all these openings have splayed stone heads, all these windows have stone sills, and most windows are boxed sashes (No.16 has large square shop window with canopy and pilastered case which are probably original; some others have casements). The basements, approached by steps from the footpath, have a door and 2 windows, the arrangement of these varying slightly; Nos. 18 and 20 retain original stone flagged pavings, stone steps, and spear railings with urn finials both at the front and on the steps to the front doors; but basement areas of many have been altered, and step railings replaced with brick walls. No. 22 has firemark over door. Rear: separate rear entrances to basements; 3-stage stairlight windows (original 20-pane lights at No.26); 3-light casement windows (mostly altered). Interiors: all have entrance hall, most have no internal access to basements; some basements still have earth floors. History: although many of the basements were used for handloom weaving, they were probably built to be let by the original owner-occupiers, who were occupationally mixed and mostly of the artisan middle class: one was a master manufacturer who subsequently built a cotton mill in Leyland. (In 1846 No.22 sold for £167) Despite some alterations, an unusually large and complete survival of a type of housing now rare in Lancashire, forming an agreeable architectural composition in relation to the church tower to the east.

Listing NGR: SD5380821545

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

357935

Legacy System:

LBS

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