Summary
A stone farmhouse of c1700, of direct-entry plan and double-pile with a half-depth rear range, extended and refronted probably in the early C19 and with some later alterations.
Reasons for Designation
Slatenber, a farmhouse of c1700, extended and refronted probably in the early C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* As a regionally distinctive vernacular house thought to date from c1700 and to have received its major alterations in the early C19;
* Retaining a very substantial amount of fabric from this period, including external and internal walls, stone staircase, external chimney stacks, structural and roof timbers, stone flag floors and ceiling, and sandstone roofing;
* Possessing numerous decorative and functional features throughout illustrating its origins and alterations, including its direct-entry double-pile plan and symmetrical later front, rebated and hollow-chamfered windows, corbelled beams, stone shelving, plank doors, hallway partition, architraves and skirting, sash windows, shaped kneelers and corbels, moulded eaves cornice, door and window surrounds, and Ingleton slate roofing;
* Benefitting from the continued presence and little-altered appearance of the adjacent agricultural buildings and yard, illustrating its origins as a farmhouse.
History
The earliest map on which Slatenber is known to be marked is the Ordnance Survey (OS) 1:10,560 map of 1851, surveyed 1846-7, on which it appears as ‘Slatingber’. The name is not referenced in the parish registers from 1607-1812. The map shows a building on a similar footprint to the extant farmhouse, but with an outshut at the south-east corner, and with other attached and detached buildings further to the west. It also shows detached buildings to the north and east of a yard to the east of the house, which may be the present agricultural buildings, which were sold into separate ownership prior to listing taking place in 1988. By the 1896 OS map, surveyed in 1893, the buildings to the west were no longer marked and the house had assumed more or less its present footprint, but still with the south-east outshut. The outshut is not marked on the 1910 OS map surveyed in 1907, while the 1909 1:2,500 map marks both the front and back porches, and the extant north-east outshut, as well as various walls within the surrounding land.
The double-pile plan-form of the main house suggests that it does not date from much before 1700. However, various aspects of the house also suggest that, in origin, it does not date from much later than this. These include the external chimney stacks, the rear roof structure with oak purlins supported by stone internal walls rather than principal rafters, the half-depth rear pile, the stone stair with overlooking window, and the hollow-chamfered and rebated mullioned windows at the rear and in the east gable wall, which are found in dated houses up to the 1720s.
The cottage adjoining to the west is clearly an addition given the straight joint at the rear, but at the front the masonry is continuous, as is the cornice gutter. Together with the symmetry of the openings, consistent window surrounds and the quoins at both ends, this suggests that the house and cottage have been refronted together. The kneelers, moulded cornice gutter with stone corbels, and door and window surrounds are all consistent with a pre-1840 date for this. The roof scar on the external west gable of the cottage also suggests that the cottage extension and the refronting took place prior to the survey for the 1851 map, which shows a narrow western extension – the scar indicates that this was single-storey. An internal scar on the west gable of the house (within the cottage) indicates an earlier, lower roofline. This probably relates to the cottage’s predecessor and its survival on the earlier west gable supports the idea of refronting rather than major rebuilding.
The use of Ingleton slates (now increasingly rare) for the front pitch is consistent with reroofing in the mid-late C19, as are the sawn softwood timbers added to the roof of the cottage, although its roof mainly consists of hewn timbers with only one very simple truss. It seems likely that the sandstone flags of the rear slope were salvaged when the Ingleton slate was laid to the front slope. The present horned sash windows probably also date from this later period and probably replaced multi-paned sash windows.
Overall the available phasing information indicates a yeoman farmhouse of circa 1700. To this was added a western extension which was replaced in the late C18 or early C19, in which period refronting also took place (possibly at the same time, but equally possibly after the cottage was added). This was followed by late-C19 and early-C20 removal and addition of minor extensions, reroofing and window replacement.
Since the house was described at the time of listing in 1988, the plain window surround of the left hand upper window, the sash window of the left hand lower window and the plank door of the cottage entrance have been removed, and brick and blockwork inserted behind the hole in the front wall, which has also truncated the stone cornice gutter. This has also resulted in the loss of some of the slates to the cottage, exposing the hewn rafters and a purlin.
Details
Farmhouse thought to be c1700, extended, refronted probably in the early C19 and with later alterations.
MATERIALS: stone rubble, formerly limewashed, with a roof of sandstone and Ingleton slate.
PLAN: direct-entry double pile with additional western bay.
EXTERIOR: standing to the north side of the road, with garden walls, gates and posts, and associated agricultural buildings to the east.
The house is two-storeyed. The walling is stone rubble with a slobbered mortar finish and traces of limewash. The south front has alternating quoins at left and right, a moulded cornice-gutter with shaped corbels, shaped kneelers and three evenly-spaced pairs of vertically-aligned windows, with entrances either side of the central pair; the left entrance and windows belong to the former cottage. At the time of inspection (April 2017) the upper left-hand window opening was formed within a brick-and-blockwork wall erected behind a large irregular opening in the stone walling. All the other windows have plain stone surrounds with stooled sills. The four right-hand windows are timber vertical sliding sashes with central glazing bars. The left-hand doorway also has a plain surround. The right-hand entrance (within a gabled open porch with flagged roof and a terracotta finial) has moulded imposts to the jambs, basket-arched lintel, and a timber four-panel door (the upper two glazed). The front pitch is roofed in Ingleton slates, and there are end stacks with a ridge stack between the cottage and the house.
Returning at the left, the west wall is gabled with a shaped kneeler at the right. It is asymmetrical with a shallower, wider pitch to the left of the ridge stack. A first-floor opening lies immediately beneath the scar of the roof of a building which once stood further to the west, and might be a small doorway giving access to this former roof-space. At the left are alternating quoins and a small corner stack.
Returning at the left again the rear (north) wall has quoins at the right. A straight joint a third of the length from the right indicates the junction of the cottage at the right with the house at the left. This joint also has alternating quoins to the house at the left. The cottage entrance is against this joint, with the right jamb quoined as well, and a ledged plank door. This and the cottage’s open central first-floor window opening each have large stone lintels. The cottage has two altered smaller ground-floor windows. The house has a lean-to outshut at the left rising to the eaves. To the right of this is the ground-floor stair window, altered from a two-light mullioned window, the left light now blocked and the right extended to ground level. To the right of this is a lean-to porch with asbestos-sheet roof, above which is a small window with hollow-chamfered surround, with a similar window to the right of the porch. All the windows are modern timber replacements. The roof is of sandstone flags laid in diminishing sizes, with grey slate to the outshut. The outshut is quoined on its exterior angles, with a plank door in its right return and window opening in the rear wall, each with large lintels and quoined jambs. Against the outshut’s left return, stone steps lead up to a small doorway against the house, with a very small window opening to its right. At the top of the steps, a wall runs from the rear angle of the house eastwards, protecting the rear yard.
Beyond this wall, the east wall of the house has an external chimney breast, offset to the left and stepping rightwards to form a stack at the ridge. At the right are two hollow-chamfered windows, single-light at first floor and rebated with a mullion at ground-floor. There is a shaped kneeler at the left.
INTERIOR: the entrance passage is stone-flagged, with stone wall to the right and partition to the left. Hewn beams are visible in the passage and the housebody to the left; in the parlour to the right, and in the bedrooms they are boxed in. The windows have full-depth wide splays. The doors have moulded timber architraves, as does the stair doorway. The rear pile is up a stone step. The pantry in the north-east corner retains hewn joists and chamfered beams, a stone-flagged floor and ceiling, beam-corbels, stone shelving on the north and south walls and a ledged, three-plank door with limewash. The window surround is also hollow-chamfered internally. The kitchen has renewed beams. The central stair is of stone, dog-legged with two half-landings linked by two steps. The stick balusters are boxed in. The bedrooms retain ledged plank doors (with latches) of the C18 and early C19 as well as a later door, and the bedroom over the pantry has a small blocked window overlooking the stair. Above the lath-and-plaster ceilings, the roof retains many hewn purlins and rafters, and is heavily torched with lime. The interior of the cottage has a stone cross-wall with blocked doorway and retains stone lintels to the open fireplaces, and hewn beams, joists, purlins and rafters.
