Lowsay Farmhouse

Summary

Farmhouse, early-C19; double-pile plan.

Reasons for Designation

Lowsay Farmhouse, of the early C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Date: its early-C19 date means that it falls within the period when there is a presumption that buildings will be listed.
* Architectural interest: an early-C19 Classical exterior of some pretension, retaining original features of good quality including a fine Venetian stair window.
* Degree of survival: the principal elevations survival well and the interior retains significant early C19 joinery including the staircase, six-panel timber doors and architraves and panelled window reveals and soffits.
* Plan: its original early-C19 double-pile plan form is retained over both floors.
* Comparisons: it compares favourably with other buildings of a similar type and date in the region, which are a vital ingredient of local distinctiveness.

History

'Lowsey' is first mentioned in a document of 1538 when the lands of Holme Cultram Abbey were being surveyed after its dissolution, and was a single customary tenement occupied by John Leithes and his mother. The tenancy subsequently passed through the Leithe and Barwise families, and in 1793 it passed to Ann Richmond; in 1840 it was held by Ann Richmond Asbridge, and the Richmond family held the tenancy into the early-C20.

Historic maps show that the present farm house was constructed between 1814 and 1840 and that it replaced an earlier house. The subsequent Tithe and Ordnance Survey maps indicate that the footprint remains unchanged to the present day.

Details

Farmhouse, early-C19.

MATERIALS: red sandstone, roughcast and painted and a Westmorland slate roof

PLAN: double-pile plan with off centre main entrance and rear entrance

EXTERIOR: the main (south east) elevation has two storeys and four bays beneath a pitched roof of graduated slate. It has V-jointed quoins, a moulded eaves cornice, coped gables and brick end chimney stacks. The main entrance is in the second bay and is fitted with a C20 timber door in a painted and keyed stone surround. The three ground and four first floor windows are all C20 replacement 2-pane timber sash windows in moulded, painted stone surrounds. The rear elevation has similar windows in moulded and painted surrounds, one to each floor in the end bays, and an off-centre Venetian stair window with pilastered surround with a keyed arch and impost blocks. A rear entrance is reached by three stone steps and a narrow window to the lower part of the elevation is probably a later insertion. The right and left returns are blind, with that to the left obscured by an attached, later single-storey lean-to building and there is a later, single-storey outbuilding attached to the north west corner with a central door and a tile roof.

INTERIOR: the ground floor retains the original double-pile plan and is entered into a narrow lobby (with an inserted C20 partition) with a room to either side. Both rooms have timber architraves and six-panelled doors and with panelled soffits, reveals and seats to the windows and that to the left also has a moulded plaster cornice; both have reproduction fireplaces. An arched opening with a keyed moulded timber surround is fitted with a four panel door and opens into a central stair hall set between a pair of rooms (original back kitchen and dairy), each of the latter with a six-panelled door and that to the right with panelled window soffits and reveals. The original, wide dog-leg staircase has three substantial newel posts and a ramped handrail, an open string and C19 turned balusters. There is an under-stairs cupboard fitted with a four-panel door suggesting this was a mid to later C19 alteration. The stair is lit by a Venetian window with panelled soffits, reveals and seat and the there is a moulded cornice above. The first floor also retains the double-pile plan and has five rooms mostly fitted with original six-panelled doors and with similarly panelled windows. Two of the three front rooms also have a panelled cupboard fitted into one of the alcoves.

The later buildings attached to the west side of the house and the remaining south east and south west sides of the associated farmstead are not of special interest.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

411779

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Brunskill, RW, Traditional Buildings of Cumbria, (2002)

Other
Peter Messenger (nd) Lowsay Farm, Silloth, Heritage Asset Statement

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