Farlam Hall Cottages, Kirkhouse (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Farlam.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY57016000
Latitude 54.93285° Longitude -2.67227°

Farlam Hall Cottages, Kirkhouse has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

2 houses, formerly one bastle house. Probably late C16 with mid C19 alterations. Thick calciferous sandstone walls, Welsh slate roof, yellow brick chimney stacks. 2 storeys, 2 bays each. No 6 left, has single-storey, 2-bay lean-to extension at front, of hammer-dressed calciferous sandstone and Welsh slate roof; plank door in wooden surround; 2-light wooden casement. No 5 has central plank door with C19 rusticated surround; ground floor sash windows with glazing bars have similar surrounds; gabled dormers above. At division between houses is earlier filled ground floor entrance. Entrance in end wall right, now filled, had chamfered surround similar to one at Denton Foot bastle house nearby, which is dated 1594. (Listed Building Report)

The two cottages have been made out of one building c. 71 ft. long, with walls of random rubble 3 ft. thick and with the upper storey partly in the roof. The doorway in the middle of the North end is similar to that dated 1594 at Denton Foot (NY 572623). The building is much longer than ordinary bastles to which the character of masonry and the doorway relate it; it may be the original 'manor house called Farlam Hall' of the 'Gilsland Survey of 1603'. It was thoroughly remodelled in the C19th (PastScape ref. Ramm et al )

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1335566
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 12730.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 241.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Old Cumbria Gazetteer
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications)
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 151 (plan)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 95
  Ramm, H.G., McDowall, R.W. and Mercer, E., 1970, Shielings and Bastles (London: HMSO) p. 77 no. 11
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 410
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Graham, T. H. B. (ed.). 1934, The barony of Gilsland. Lord William Howard's survey, taken in 1603 (Feild-Booke yt explaines all the Map Booke for Gilsland taken in 1603) (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 16)

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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