Millhouse Grange, Bardon Mill

Description

Bastle House, now garage, late C16 or early C17. Massive rubble; stone slate roof on south and Welsh slate on north,reverse stepped gable coping. 2 storeys. C20 garage doors to ground floor, 1st floor square boarded window, original door with flattened Tudor head and chamfered surround, now reduced to window, small window boarded over. Left return has boulder plinth and central blocked ground floor loop. Rear elevation has small square inserted ground floor window and blocked 1st floor loop. Garden Cottage attached on right is not of interest. Interior has original transverse beams carrying 1st floor, fireplace with chamfered surround probably early C18, central principal-rafter truss. (Listed Building Report)

NY 782645 In the grounds of The Grange, on the side of a track leading to the South Tyne, is a building, now used as a garage, in the bastle tradition, perhaps of late 17th century date. It is 22 x 31ft, with walls over 3ft thick. The only original opening now visible is a doorway to the upper floor on the long south wall.
(On the opposite side of the track and 50 yards north west of the above is a cottage with similar walling 18 feet wide, and originally perhaps 32 feet long. The entrance to the upper floor was by a doorway with a flat head in the north wall, although it may not be original) (Ramm et al 1970).
At the north west corner of the grounds of Millhouse Grange is a bastle house, now in use as a garage and store; an adjacent farm building to the east has been converted into a dwelling, which has one room inside the bastle basement.
The bastle measures 9.3m by 6.5m externally, with side walls c.0.8m-0.9m thick and end walls of c.1.1m-1.2m, constructed of large roughly squared blocks with a boulder plinth on the west and north. At basement level there is a blocked slit vent near the east end of the south wall, and a possible second slit in the centre of the west end. A small window near the east end of the north wall has an irregular internal splay, suggesting that it may be a modified slit. A doorway, its details obscured by plaster, in the centre of the east end, now opens into the adjacent house; its position strongly suggests that it is the original byre entrance. The large doorway in the centre of the south wall is of comparatively modern date.
Internally, the basement is ceiled by old transverse beams; a typical section is 0.25m deep by 0.16m wide. At the west end is an inserted fireplace which has a chamfered surround and is probably of later 18th or early 19th century date. An angled stone staircase in the south east corner may be contemporary or more recent.
At first floor level the original upper doorway, set a little east of centre in the south wall, has had its lower portion walled up and now serves as a window. It has a chamfered surround and a flattened triangular head. An internal timber lintel has a cut out for a harr socket against the east jamb (of the same type which is seen at Birkshaw (NY 76 NE 74) and other local bastles), and there is a drawbar tunnel on the opposite side. A large window to the west of the doorway is probably of 19th century date, but just beyond it is evidence, both internal and external, of the west jamb of a smaller earlier opening. East of the doorway is a small square window with a pegged oak frame and a central mullion (concealed by a board externally); this appears to be original, and is an unusual survival. In the north wall is a blocked slit towards the east end.
Internally a fireplace against the west wall is smaller than that below, but of similar character. There are two roof trusses; that towards the west end is relatively recent, but that set centrally, of simple principal rafter form, is probably original. It has a chamfered tie beam and two purlins on each roof slope. Two other old beams towards the east end probably carried the floor of an attic which was lit by the adjacent buildings. This window also seems to have an old timber frame, set at a skew angle as if looking out past an adjacent roof. The survival of a little heavy stonework in the boundary wall at the east end of the cottage here suggests that there were earlier buildings in this position, perhaps other bastles.
A possible early 20th century painting of the building, labelling it 'A Moss Trooper's Cottage', shows a heavy square stack capping the east gable; this had already been removed prior to the upper part of the west gable being taken down and rebuilt a few years ago; many of the roof timbers were renewed at this time.
The bastle would appear to be of the usual early 17th century date presumed for examples in this area; it was converted into a standard two storey house in the late 18th or early 19th century. Both fireplaces, the large first floor window, perhaps the first floor timbers, and the inserted stair belonging to this phase; the remodelling was less drastic than many and preserved many original features. This is a relatively well preserved bastle. Its disguise of plaster obscures the condition of the presumed byre doorway in the east end (Ryder 1994-5). (Northumberland HER)

Comments

Appears to have returned to being a residence and is no longer a garage.