Description

MOULTON BACK LANE
NZ 20 SE (north side, off)

6/92 North Cowton Grange

- II

Farmhouse. Early-mid C17. Possibly for Bryan Smithson, a Recusant, or
Margaret Stancy. Rubble with ashlar dressings, artificial stone slate roof.
L-shaped plan, 2 storeys, 2 bays with l-bay wing projecting front left.
West front: south range (set back) has quoins to right. To left, board
door in chamfered ashlar surround with triangular head, and to its right a
C20 casement window in part-surround of 4-light mullion window. On first
floor, C20 casement window in a surround of 3-light chamfered mullion
window. Stack at end right. To right, C20 rendered brick range, not of
special interest. Inner (south) return of projecting west range: quoins to
left. To right, blocked ashlar doorway with interrupted jambs and
triangular head, and to its left a C20 casement window in part-surround of 4-
light mullion window. On first floor, a C20 casement window in surround of
3-light mullion window. Shaped kneeler, ashlar coping to left. Gable end
of west range: large external chimney stack, quoined and stepped. Rear
(south range): quoins. Central C20 6-panel door. To left, blocked 2-light,
formerly 4-light, chamfered mullion window on ground floor and 3-light
chamfered mullion window with iron stanchions on first floor. To right, 2
blocked lights and 2 side-sliding sashes of 4-light chamfered mullion
window, with part drip-mould, on ground floor; altered 5-light chamfered
mullion window. Shaped kneeler, ashlar coping to right. End stacks, with
early brick upper sections and circular brick chimneys. Right return: 1:1
first-floor windows. To left, surround of 2-light mullion window with cyma
recta drip-mould on ground floor; blocked 2-light window with stanchion and
external stack on corbels on first floor; single-light in gable. To right,
2-light mullion window with stanchions and cyma recta drip-mould on ground
floor; 2-light casement window on first floor. Interior (west range):
inglenook fireplace hidden in ground-floor room, also steps leading up to
priest's hole. Large ceiling beam with stepped peg-holes in ground-floor
room. Part of stone surround of large fireplace hidden in ground-floor room
in south range. Oak beams and joists chamfered and stopped in first-floor
room. The grange of Fountains Abbey, excavated in 1962, lay further north
nearer the farm called Halnaby Grange. It was destroyed by early C14
Scottish raids, but timber-framed buildings were reconstructed which lasted
until a severe fire destroyed them very late in the C16. Subsequently, the
present stone building was built further south. The then receiver of the
abbey's rents, Thomas Smithson, took up residence at the Dissolution without
legal authority, but he and his descendants, who were Recusants, remained
there until some time before 1657, when Margaret Stancy, beneficiary of a
Will, was in residence. Platt, The Monastic Grange in Medieval England
(1969) Appendix I, p138 ff; article on Moulton in Scorton Grammar School
Magazine, 1925.

Listing NGR: NZ2647004843

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26603343

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)