Beetham Pasonage Farm (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Old Parsonage Farmhouse; Haverbrack Hall; The College; College of St Mary

In the civil parish of Beetham.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD49637961
Latitude 54.20965° Longitude -2.77424°

Beetham Pasonage Farm has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Farmhouse. Probably late C17 with later additions and extensions. South part appears to incorporate remains of medieval college demolished in 1756 (R.C.H.M.) of which blocked doorway in South wall is visible. Slobbered rubble walls with roughly-cut limestone quoins; graduated greenslate roof with stone ridge. 2 storeys plus attics. Main frontage in East gable: 4 windows, irregular, mostly C19 cross windows with leaded glazing. Off-centre boarded door. Ground-floor window to far right small-paned; attic window at top left trompe-l'oeil. Blocked medieval doorway in South wall has 2-centred head. Massive chimney with round shafts offset from ridge to South; single chimney in apex of East gable. Interior has 2 staircases, one with turned balusters and square newels; panelling to rear ground-floor drawing room; panelled partitions, one with initials and date R & IA 1661; cornices to upper-floor rooms; powder room backing onto landing. See also R.C.H.M. p.104, although part of the panelling described therein has since been removed. (Listed Building Report)

Parsonage Farm, immediately N. of the churchyard, (SD496796) was called "The College". "The blocked doorway towards the churchyard proves that it is a medieval building." (Pevsner).
The "College" was a large building, with hall open to the roof, lit by church-like windows, and having walls over 2ft thick; it was demolished c.1756. (Not in Knowles and Hadcock, and no other evidence of ecclesiastical or monastic connections found) (Hutton's Beetham Repository).
Possible site of Haverbrack Hall, documented as belonging to William Thornborough in 1543 (Perriam and Robinson 1998). (PastScape)

From the name and position of this farm, it is obvious that it was the vicarage for the beautiful old Church of Beetham. (Palmer 1944)

Comments

The site of a medieval manor house - most probably a residence of a cleric but probably not a college. Gatehouse can not find anything to support the suggestion this was the site of Haverback Hall mentioned 1543. Although the site was in Haverbrack parish in 1936 Haverbrack township is about 1.15km NW. Haverbrack parish seems to have been a post medieval creation now no longer existing.
Included by Perriam and Robinson in their gazetteer of medieval fortified buildings but there is no evidence the medieval house was fortified. There is no mention of a moat or a tower.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1137509
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 41508; 510334.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4036.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 360
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 227
  Palmer, J.H., 1944, Historic Farmhouses in and around Westmorland (Kendal) p. 14
  RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 104 no. 3 online transcription
  Ford, J.Rawlinson (ed), 1906, The Beetham Repository, 1770, by the Rev. William Hutton, vicar of Beetham, 1762-1811 (Kendal: CWAAS Tract Series 7) p. 112-3

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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.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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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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