Warden's Cottage, Low Staindale, Bridestones

Summary

A mid eighteenth century farmhouse, with earlier elements and nineteenth century additions. Now used as the Warden's House for the Bridestones Property.

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Description

From Listing (1983)

"House with laithe barn to NE end. Dated MC18 on listing, earlier timbers removed from the laithe barn and the non-alignment of the central door and wall of the house suggest that parts may be earlier.

House MC18 with later alteration and extension. Herringbone tooled limestone to front, with tooled sandstone extension; sandstone rubble to right and to rear. Central staircase plan, one and a half rooms deep; extended to L later. Two low storeys, two window quoined front with single storey extension. Central board door with sixteen pane sash beneath plain replacement lintel to right. Four pane sashes to left of door and to extension, the latter with heavy plain lintel. Herringbone-tooled lintels to door and remaining ground floor window. First floor windows are two light, large pane, horizontal sliding sashes. Stone sills to all windows. rear; plank door to centre has crude herringbone tooled lintels with incised keystone. End stacks to house and extension. Interior plank doors and exposed beams to ground floor rooms. In the room to the left of the door is a stone fireplace with imposts and a segment arched lintel. Unoccupied at time of resurvey"

From NT VBS (1993)

"The farmstead of Low Staindale is in the valley bottom of Staindale in the parish of Lockton. The farmstead is situated on a terrace on the north-west side of the gently sloping enclosures that are adjacent to the stream. Architecturally the farm appears to be of mid-eighteenth century date with later alterations. However, there is evidence that the present building may pre-date the eighteenth century, and there may have been a farm on the site for several centuries.

The name Staindale derives from the Old English for "stone" dale (W.Thurlow, 1979). This part of the southern North York Moors was sparsely populated with isolated farmsteads. This was the case throughout the medieval period. Any development there may have been was limited by the existence of the Royal Hunting of Pickering (M.Beresford, 196).

The irregular shape of the fields by the stream may indicate that these were early enclosures by agreement. By the time of the MC18 remodelling of the house, Low Staindale had its own enclosed land. The farm is shown on the Thomas Jefferies map of 1775. Low Pasture and High Pasture Farm do not appear on this map and probably date from the LC18 enclosures of Lockton Parish. There is an Enclosure Act for Lockton dating from 1784, whilst Lockton Low Moor to the NW wasn't enclosed until the LC19.

Agricultural improvements were carried out at Low Staindale ion the MC19 and LC19. New outhouses were provided for cattle in an extended farmyard (buildings 31868/9). This was paralleled by improvements to the domestic facilities of the house. A two storey extension was added to the SW gable. This contained a kitchen on the ground floor with a men's room over it.

In the C20, after Low Staindale had ceased to function as a farm, the house became a Youth Hostel. At this time Mrs. Mercer lived in the C19 cottage and the house served as the Hostel (pers. Comm., Bob Dicker). When the Youth Hostel was moved to Lockton the house became unoccupied. This was the case when the DoE listing took place and remained so until it was re-furbished as a Warden's House. During the re-furbishment the trap door to the men's room was replace by a staircase, and the flag floors in the house were removed (pers. comm., Bob Dicker).

Phasing

Building 31866 is Listed as a MC18 house with later alterations and extension. The existing fabric supports this interpretation. However, there is evidence for the house having earlier elements.

The main SE facade has the symmetry of the C18. This has had the result that the central door is positioned partially beneath the main structural cross wall of the house. This suggests that the house plan predates the MC18 facade.

The building consists of a domestic portion and an agricultural portion. In this respect it reflects the Longhouse tradition of the area. However, the plan of the house doesn't conform to the common entry forms of the text books (RCHM, 1987).

The piecemeal re-building and adaptations of each portion has resulted in the present situation. The house being substantially MC18 and the NE agricultural range appearing to be of C19 date. Recent rebuilding of the NE gable revealed riven hardwood timbers (pers. comm. Bob Dicker). These have characteristics of cruck construction and indicate a pre-eighteenth century date for the building. They are stored in building 31868.

The SW cottage extension is a nineteenth century kitchen. It is a two storey construction providing labourer's sleeping accommodation above. The trap door access is no longer extant. It was recorded in a survey of 1983.

Architectural Description:

Exterior:

31866 is a gabled building aligned approximately NE-SW. It consists of three distinct units: A central two storey house, a two storey gabled extension to the SW and a single storey agricultural range to the NE.

The main house is constructed of rubble sandstone to the SW gable and rear, NW, flank. The quoins are of tooled sandstone. The rear door has an eighteenth century keystone lintel of limestone displaying herringbone tooling. The window to its right also has a herringbone dressed lintel. The window to the left of the door has a wood lintel. It has ben reduced to a third of its size by the insertion of a meter box. Two windows have been inserted to the first floor, probably in the nineteenth century. The three full windows have new sliding sashes. The door is of late C20 plank construction.

The SE facade is built of herringbone dressed and squared Jurassic limestone. The courses are of uneven depth. The larger quoins are similarly herringbone dressed. Due to the high quality of masonry the door and windows do not have large quoins or jambs, all the windows have projecting stone sills. The ground floor left window and central door both have herringbone dressed lintels. The right ground floor window has been enlarged, thus unbalancing the symmetry of the facade.Some incised graffiti on the concrete lintel dates this work as "18th August 1971".

The new window is a 16 pane sash. The other ground floor window is a four pane horned sash. The two first floor windows have four pane sliding sashes.

The gabled roof is of pantile with a gritstone ridge. Both gables have flagstone copings. The C19 chimney stacks are of brick with a projecting drip course and a flag plinth.

The SW extension is of one and a half storeys. The SE flank contains a ground floor window and the SW gable has a first and ground floor window. All three windows have sandstone projecting sills and plain limestone lintels. The walls are built of roughly squared and coursed rubble limestone and sandstone. The front SE flank wall consists of a better quality herringbone dressed limestone copying the earlier facade of the main house. The difference in quality is shown at the straight joint where the two parts meet.

The C19 SW extension had its own entrance on the rear NW flank. This has been partially blocked and a window inserted. The large roughly dressed sandstone lintel has been retained.

To the NE of the main house is a single storey agricultural range. It is built of rubble sandstone. The two NE roof bays have been demolished and the two remaining bays have been substantially rebuilt. A large window has been inserted in the rear NW flank, replacing the barn door. The straight joints are visible below the window. The demolition of the end gable of building 31868 has exposed the door in the SE flank of the barn. A window has been inserted to its left.

Interior:

The present plan of the main house is one and a half rooms deep with a central wall creating two rear and two front rooms. A modern entrance has been inserted from the agricultural range in the NE gable. The two rear service rooms now form a hall.

The central door entrance in the SE facade opens into a small lobby from which rises the inserted staircase. A door to the left gives access to the parlour, now a late twentieth century fitted kitchen. A door to the left gives access to the forehouse, which is still used as a living room. The forehouse contains a C20 stone fireplace with imposts and a false elliptical arch lintel. Both rooms have plank doors with spoon-head hinges leading to the rear rooms. The ceiling beams are exposed.

The first floor consists of two bedrooms. A bathroom has been inserted. Two plank doors with spoon head hinges have been reused. Both bedrooms have late C19 iron fireplaces in the gable walls.

The SW extension contains a C19 kitchen on the ground floor. Originally this was entered by an exterior entrance in the NW flank. Now an internal door leads into the kitchen from the main house. The SW window has a pair of internal shutters. These are constructed of wide planks and have butterfly hinges. This kitchen retains its North York Moors style range. The boiler and hob grate have been removed. However, the turf plate hearth remains. In this peat-burning area the turf plate is designed to provide a slow draught for burning peat and facilitates the removal of powdery peat ash. The separate oven to the left of the range is another characteristic feature in houses of the North York Moors. This oven has its own firebox and ash pit so that it can be operated completely independently of the main fire. Although the oven does not have a maker's mark, such ovens were characteristic of the iron founders of Kirkbymoorside and Pickering (P.Brears, 1987).

The first floor room is now reached by a staircase. As recently as 1983 the trap door access remained. The wide planks to the floor are still in situ. The roof is carried on a pair of sawn wooden purlins carried on the crosswalls.

The NE agricultural range now contains a store/workroom, and office and a W.C. The specific agricultural uses are unclear."

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