Former bastle at Low Park, Alston Moor, Cumbria

Summary

Former bastle, early C17, extended in the C18, with later alterations.

Description

Former bastle, early C17, extended in the C18, with later alterations.

MATERIALS: sandstone rubble stone walls with quoins and dressings of dressed stone.

PLAN: rectangular, oriented roughly north to south with byre to ground floor and heated living space above.

EXTERIOR: the bastle measures about 6m by 10m and has two storeys plus an attic. All walls stand to their full height, but some of the upper stonework has fallen, and the stone slate roof covering has been removed. The walls are composed of large rubble laid in rough courses, with prominent quoins and a plinth, consistent with typical bastle stonework of the late C16 or early C17. The south gable is just under 1m thick and the side walls are about 0.75m thick. The south gable wall has a central byre entrance with a massive curved and chamfered stone lintel and chamfered monolithic stone jambs. Above and to the left is the original first floor rectangular entrance also with large slab jambs. Above this is a later rectangular entrance to the attic floor. The apex of the gable supports a large, squat corniced stone-built chimney stack. The east elevation has the remains of a blocked mullion window, cut by a later rectangular window, and a blocked, small, square fire window to its left. Further right is the remains of a second mullioned window with a chamfered lintel retaining bar holes and a mullion stump. Between these windows there is a rectangular inserted first floor entrance, formerly reached by a set of external stone steps. There is a pair of attic windows tucked immediately below the eaves formed of chamfered slabs. The north gable is blind, with a stone corniced chimney stack to the apex. The west elevation has a rectangular entrance and a blocked first floor opening; there is a small, blocked ventilation slit immediately to the right of the former.

INTERIOR: the location of the former first floor (stone slabs supported on timber joists) can be identified by a clear stone scarcement to all internal walls. All walls have exposed stonework and that to the first floor retains some plaster in particular to the south gable. There is an original first floor fireplace to the south gable set immediately above the byre entrance, with the stone corbels of a former fire hood terminating in a corbelled chimney stack on the wall above. A secondary fireplace to the north gable with jambs and a lintel supporting a tapering stone flue above is of mid-C18 form. Immediately to the left of this fireplace is thought to be the location of a narrow, ladder/stair trap. The joists of an inserted loft floor above mostly remain with some fragmentary floorboard survival. The roof structure is considered to be reused from the original roof, and comprises two collared trusses, tenoned into a ridge piece with double purlins and rafters. It is unclear whether any original stone flooring remains beneath floor debris.

SUBSIDIARY ITEMS: attached to the south gable are the west and south elevations of a two-storey C18 extension constructed of similar stonework to the bastle. The west elevation stands to eaves height and has an entrance with original lintel and left jamb, and a small window with simple projecting lintel and sill. The south gable stands to apex level and is blind.

History

Bastles are small defensible, farmhouses in which heated living quarters are situated above an unheated ground floor byre. They were a response to border instability in that the building could protect both human and animal life from threats of attack. The vast majority are simple rectangular buildings with thick walls, with the byre entrance typically placed in one gable end, an upper door in the side wall, small stoutly-barred windows and few architectural features or details. Some have stone barrel vaults to the basement, but the majority had a first floor of heavy timber beams carrying stone slabs. Most were constructed between the late C16 and the early decades of the C17, although earlier and later examples are also known. Bastles are confined to the northern border counties of England, in Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham. They are found on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish Border, the need for such strongly defended farmsteads being related to the troubled social conditions of the later Middle Ages, where thieving and lawlessness (known as reiving) is well-documented, and which lasted until well after the union of the English and Scottish Crowns in 1603.

Buildings constructed in this tradition, with similar dimensions, ground-floor byre doorways, first floor doorways and heating at first floor level only, have been identified in what might be regarded as more peripheral areas to the Anglo-Scottish border. For example, those within the parish of Alston Moor, where reiving is also well-documented. Examples in this area generally lack the vaulted basements and many have the major openings and heating source concentrated on a single gable wall. Bastle houses in Alston Moor are unusual in that they are a continuation of a Border practice originally adopted with defensive intent, without being truly defensive. Most bastles in this area were constructed around 1610 but it is understood that they have been popular here up to well into the C18 because they offered valued practical advantages of living above one’s beasts. Such buildings were routinely extended during the course of the C18.

The building at Low Park conforms to a bastle in both plan and dimensions, and its stonework and entrance is consistent with an early C17 date. It originally comprised two storeys with a byre below a heated first floor, with both first floor entrance and fireplace on the south gable. The building would have been heather thatched. Like others in the locality the dwelling was subsequently modified to include a lit attic storey and was extended to both gables creating a two-storey linear farmstead in which farmhouse and working buildings are attached in a line, rather than in a vertical plan. The first floor living accommodation was subdivided retaining the original fireplace for half of the building, and a second fireplace was inserted to the other half, probably in the mid-C18. A new entrance was inserted in the east elevation, at one stage reached by a set of external stairs. The building ceased its domestic use when the adjacent farmhouse was built in the 1920s, after which the building was adapted to a hay barn; internally, the first floor was removed, and the north extension was lost to a mid-C20 milking shed. The building fell into disuse in the late C20, and within the last decade the roof covering was removed from the bastle, as was the roof and east elevation of the south extension.

Reasons for Listing

This former bastle, converted to a linear farmstead in the C18, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* a good example of an early-C17 bastle, which sits firmly within the period when there is a presumption in favour of listing;

* bastles are a nationally significant vernacular building type that contribute to regional distinctiveness, and this example retains its original plan form and significant original fabric;

* it illustrates the key characteristics of a bastle, including byre and first-floor chamfered door openings, the remains of blocked mullioned windows, a fire window, remains of a smoke hood, and timber floor and roof structure;

* C18 modifications are easily readable within the historic fabric, including a new first-floor entrance and window openings, and a second fireplace illustrating its evolution over time;

* a good example of a bastle variant that confirms knowledge of the wider geographical range of the building type, and our increased understanding of its form and evolution.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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