Summary

House, built before 1842. Some later alteration.

Description

House, built before 1842. Some later alteration.

MATERIAL
It is constructed of random limestone rubble with limestone dressings and a slate roof. The central ridge stack has been removed.

PLAN
The building is rectangular on plan with a lean-to against the south gable wall.

EXTERIOR
The building has one and a half storeys and three bays, with high gables and sash windows in stone surrounds. The symmetrical entrance front faces onto the churchyard. It has a central plank door within a two-centred arched surround and is flanked by paired timber sash windows in square-headed surrounds with slender mullions. Each gable end has a two-light window to the upper floor and some cusped detailing to the apex of the bargeboards. The rear elevation has two windows; the large window is a later addition, and a central doorway containing a half-glazed door. The single-storey lean-to attached to the south gable wall is built of stone rubble under a monopitch slate roof.

History

To the north-west of the Church of St Michael and All Angels, close to the north entrance to the churchyard, is a small detached building that was provided as housing for the sexton, and included a single-storey store accessed externally. It is depicted on the tithe map of 1842, and is named as Old Church Cottage on the first edition Ordnance Survey map published in 1888 (surveyed 1887-1888). A photograph taken probably in the early or mid-C20 shows that the house originally had a large central chimney stack and a single-storey lean-to on the north side. Both features have since been removed. A window has been added in the rear elevation.

Reasons for Listing

The former sexton’s house, constructed before 1842 in the churchyard of the Church of St Michael and All Angels, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a neatly-made, compact building in the Gothic style, with some good exterior detailing;
* it is a prominent and architecturally-distinctive component of the churchyard.

Group value:
* it benefits from historic and spatial group value with the Grade II* listed Church of St Michael and All Angels with which it was functionally-related and the nearby lych gate.

Recommended Books

• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)