Details
SD 83 NE
11/74
NELSON
SCHOLEFIELD LANE
Scholefield House
5/3/1952
II
House, formerly house and farmhouse, the result of the sub-division of a high status dwelling. Dated 1617, with later C17 alterations and additions, remodelled C18, sub-divided into 2 dwellings in the C19, and reformed into a single dwelling late C20. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar sandstone dressings, coped gables, ashlar ridge and gable stacks, and a stone slated roof.
PLAN: Irregular form incorporating early C17 2-bay end lobby entrance plan, later modified and extended on north side.
FRONT (south) ELEVATION: 2 storeys, 4 bays with advanced 2-storey gabled porch to left with moulded surround and deep painted lintel bearing inscription '1617 C A: A E: C.E.' Above, a moulded string and a 3-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window beneath a hood mould with label stops. Main range with 8-light hall window, and further right, 2, 3-light windows to ground floor, all with chamfer mullions and hood moulds. First floor has 3, 3-light windows.
REAR ELEVATION: Remodelled and extended elevation with tall transomed Venetian window left of centre of wide right-hand gable. To the left, 2 glazing bar sashes, 3 over 6 pane, one to each floor, with flush ashlar surrounds. Further left, lower narrow gable with doorway with C20 glazed door and first floor sash window, 6 over 6 panes.
SIDE (west) ELEVATION: Former 4-light window altered to form doorway and 2-light opening. Above, modified 6-light mullioned window.
INTERIOR: Much remodelled, but retaining clear evidence of early plan form, and now with exposed early fabric, exposed chamfered ceiling beams and joists.
GROUND FLOOR: Massive quoined and chamfered doorway from porch into house. C19 stick baluster secondary stair, introduced when the house was subdivided, set in position of former heck of original hearth. Room beyond stair with cantilevered end of spine beam formerly seated on bressumer of former firehood. A further doorway with a surround matching that from the porch lead to remodelled rear room. To the east of the doorway, within the same wall, the western half of a massive hearth with substantial springer stone and chamfered voussoirs. The hearth was concealed until the late C20 alterations, having been mutilated when a doorway was created from the room to the south. This leads into the C18 stair hall, with a sophisticated stone cantilever stair. East end room with late C20 hearth.
FIRST FLOOR: Panelled archway from stair a late C20 addition, but with wide oak floorboards, deep window reveals with cavetto and ovolo mouldings. Massive chamfered and stopped surround to doorway into east end room on north wall.
HISTORY: The initials C.A.' on the porch lintel refer to Christopher Aspden, clothier and yeoman who purchased Scholefield in 1599, and sold it to Lawrence Ormerod in 1624. In the 1660s, Ormerod's hearth tax assessment was based on 4 hearths. The house was subdivided in the 1880s
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pearson S. Rural Houses of the Lancashire Pennines 1560-1760' RCHME. 1985, p59.
A complex, high- status vernacular house, which, despite subsequent phases of alteration and remodelling, retains much surviving early fabric, including evidence of a smoke hood and the hearth at the centre of the early end lobby entrance plan.
