Newton on the Moor; Newton Green Farmhouse

Description

Solitary form bastle, measures 17 x 6.5m, with walls 1m thick. First floor door in long wall. Present state - house (Ryder 1990).
Newton Greens Farmhouse. Grade II listed building. Bastle house, late 16th or early 17th century, altered 1668 and in 18th and 19th centuries. Rear wing added and end rebuilt; south elevation remodelled in 1889. Interior mainly late 19th century (Listed Building Report).
The farmhouse consists of a rectangular two storeyed block, 16.8m by c.6.6m externally, with a later north wing (formerly a farmbuilding). The main block of the house is built of large rubble, with roughly shaped quoins at the west end and a boulder plinth in parts; the walls are c.1m thick. The walls have been heightened in coursed whitish sandstone and the east end appears to have been completely rebuilt, again in squared and coursed stone. The south elevation is of three broad bays. In the end bays the upper windows are under 19th century gablets, with patches of later masonry beneath showing the position of their predecessors. In the centre bay the entrance doorway with a four-centred arch within a square frame (its lintel dated 1889) and a small window share a common hoodmould, which looks old in parts. Above the hoodmould is the head of an earlier door (presumably moved) with a chamfered lintel and the inscription FMM 1668 (Matthew Foster and his wife, info from owner). To the left of the reset lintel and below the first floor windows, are the remains of the jambs of an upper doorway. The west end of the building is covered by a later lean-to and cannot be properly examined; above the roof of the lean-to are probable traces of small windows on either side of the stack. The section of the north wall west of the wing shows a blocked slit vent of typical bastle type and at first floor level a blocked window with a timber lintel. The house appears to have originated as a rather elongate bastle. The 1668 doorhead may have come from one of its doorways, although from its date it seems more likely to commemorate a remodelling of the house. Most of the present features date from a second remodelling in 1889 (Ryder 1994-5).
A building assessment was carried out in 2008 ahead of a proposal to open a new doorway at ground floor level through the north end of the west gable end wall. The wall is built of roughly-coursed stone with some large blocks towards the base where there is an intermittent boulder plinth. Removal of plaster from the inner face of the wall revealed a similar face without any sign of structural features. Whilst the opening would remove some early fabric it was not considered that it would damage any historic architectural features (Ryder 2008)
A watching brief in 2009 observed works to the building. The main intervention was the creation of a new doorway through the west gable wall. The wall measured 0.95m thick and several small sockets were identified in the external face of the wall, in the former wash house. The removal of an old stack of engineering brick, which rose adjacent to the south end of the west gable wall, allowed examination of a small blocked window at first floo rlevel. It measured about 0.46m square with a narrow chamfered surround cut from four stones. This window may be an original feature of the house and its style fits with a late 17th or early 18th century date.
The removal of stoothing on the internal face of the north wall revealed a recess formed in a former doorway opening. The recess measures 1.02m wide on the internal face, splaying slightly to 0.95m at the back. The recess was used as a cupboard before being concealed and retained a wooden shelf. It seems likely that this opening represents an original north door contemporary with the house. A blocked window was revealed immediately east of the present door into the north wing; the lintel is identical with that of the 1889 openings on the south elevation. This is puzzling as it opens inside the early 19th century wing (Ryder 2009). (Northumberland HER)

Bastle house. Late C16 or early C17, altered 1668 and again in C18 and C19; rear wing added and east end rebuilt; south elevation remodelled 1889. Large rubble on boulder plinth, heightened in square tooled stone; 1889 parts have tooled ashlar dressings. Pantiles to front roof slope, Welsh slates to rear, asbestos sheets on outshut. 2 stacks rebuilt in brick. T-plan; front block c.17 x 6.5 metres.
2 storeys, 3 bays; roughly-shaped bastle quoins to left and tooled C19 quoins to right. Centre bay has 5-panel door in chamfered surround with flat-pointed head, dated 1889, sharing common hoodmould with 4-pane casement immediately F to left; above is a re-set lintel inscribed M M 1668 and, to left, jambs of original upper door. 8-pane Yorkshire sash windows in chamfered surrounds; end bay ground-floor windows with hoodmoulds, 1st floor under blind slits in gabled half dormers. End gables and dormers coped on moulded kneelers. Stepped-and-corniced left end stack, rebuilt stepped-and-banded right end stack.
Right return shows 8-pane casement with 8-pane Yorkshire sash over, in 1889 surrounds. Left return shows C18 pent outshut, with 8-pane casement set in former doorway with timber lintel; reverse-stepped coping to ends. Rear elevation shows blocked slit vent to bastle byre on right of wing, with blocked window above.
Interior largely late C19; bastle walls 1.0 metre thick.
Attached farm buildings to rear are not of special interest. (Listed Building Report)