Farmhouse, High Lidmoor, Bransdale

Summary

A late 18th-mid 19th century farmhouse, the E end of an E-W range of farmbuildings at High Lidmoor.

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Description

From NT VBS Yorkshire 1017 Building 1:
Probably dating from the late 18th century, the house was altered in the second half of the 19th century and retains no earlier features although parts of the N and E walls may survive from the previous house.
The construction is typical of the buildings of the Dale, coursed sandstone rubble walls and a pantiled roof with gable copings which in this case oversail square kneelers. There are two brick chimney stacks and a stone ridge, the ground floor passage window and those to the bedrooms are Yorkshire sashes. The N wall is built in rougher masonry than the others, a straight joint in line with the central chimney stack possibly marks the position of the projecting bay marked on the earlier maps or may indicate the extent of an earlier building. The RCHM suggest that there is evidence that this wall has been heightened and there is a narrow string course running eastward from the top of the straight joint and another in the E wall at the same height. The masonry above this course in the N wall differs from that below it.
Entrance to the house is by a projecting porch on the S side which leads into the original kitchen which is floored with paving slabs. From the kitchen doors open onto the staircase, the parlour and to a passage which runs along the N side of the building behind the parlour to a larder which take up the whole of the E end. The first floor contains three bedrooms which coincide with the rooms on the gorund floor. The middle bedroom has a 19th century cast iron fire surround. From the winders at the foot of the staircase an opening in the gable wall gives access to the E part of building 31623 which is annexed to the house.
To the right of the porch on the S side there is an inset sundial inscribed "William Strickland" and "J.Moon 1830". Strickland held the farm and Moon, who also had property in the Dale, was the surveyor of Strickland's estate. The RCHM suggests that the dial may have been reset; certainly its position hard against the eaves of the porch seems curious, unless the porch post-dates it.
Apart from Low Barn, which lies 310m to the W, and 31626 on the S side of the farmyard, the buildings form an L-shaped range running E-W with 31625 projecting southward at the W end.
The earliest cartographical record found is Moon's map of 1825 which shows a range of buildings lying E-W, probably buildings 31622 and 31623, with another small building in the position occupied by 31626. The 1854 OS 6" survey shows little change, if any, and it is not until the 1912 OS 25" that the buildings are shown in their present form, buildings 31624 and 31625 having been added and the boilhouse built at the west end of building 31626, although incorrectly shown on the map.
It is clear from examination of the buildings that 31624 was an infill between the already existing 31623 and 31625, that 31622 was remodelled during the second half of the 19th century and the the oldest remnants are probably the N and W walls of 31623."
The VBS also contains a copy of the undated RCHME survey report (probably Oct 1978), and a certain amount of historical and social information [1]-[11].

Property Survey information [12]:
No documentary evidence prior to 1825 has been found for this complex, but it may have originated as the centre of a seperate 67 acre holding which was later conbined with other land at Low Lidmoor by William Strickland. A large E-W "house-like" structure is shown on a map of 1825, but it is named as "Yards etc" and the adjacent field is "Barn Field" [13]; it is possible that the late 18th century house (see above) was abandoned or disused in favour of the house at Low Lidmoor. The tithe maps might give an indication of this, as the area of the holding is actually shared between two townships, and the 1845 Bransdale West Side tithe map names the enclosure as "House and Garth" while the 1849 Esatside map names it as "Barn and Yard" [14] [15]. The building is also shown on the OS maps [16] [17]. The 1910 valuation shows that the holding comprised 68 acres and was farmed by George Teasdale [18].

Site visit 12/11/1999:
The house has been extensively modernised and re-furbished, and now forms a holiday cottage. The chimney stacks have been rebuilt in stone and all the windows are replacements.

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