| Description | Higgin Chamber, mid 17th century house with later alteration (SE 03469 24234).
'SOWERBY BRIDGE SOWERBY LANE SE 0224 and SE 0324 (west side ) , 8/222 Boulder Clough 15.ll.66 Higgin Chamber GV II House. Mid C17 with later alterations. Coursed dressed stone, stone slate roof. 2 storeys. Garden front: 2 gabled bays with straight joint between. Right bay refenestrated C19 with a 2 light flat faced mullion window to each floor. Left bay: double chamfered mullion windows. Board door in C19 plain stone surround to right of 2 light fire window and 6 light window with transom and king mullion. Dripmould. 9 light window with king mullion and dripmould to lst floor. Blind 2 light window under dripmould in gable. Coping to both gables, shaped kneelers and finials to outer verges, base of apex finial to left gable, head carved stone on valley coping, arched finial to right gable. Renewed stacks at rear of each bay. Right return (road front): double chamfered mullion windows. 4 panel door in plain stone surround on right. To left of this a gabled bay projects, having an 8 light window with transom, king mullion and dripmould to ground floor and 3 over 5 light window with dripstone above. Shaped kneelers, coping, finials. To left of this bay, on lst floor, a blind 3 light chamfered mullion window with painted glazing bars. Roof on right hipped and with finial. Left return: added single storey outshut on right. To its left a 2 light double chamfered mullion window, mullion removed. Dripmould over this and at right corner. To left a 4 , now 2 light flat faced mullion window with a 4 light and 2 light window or same type above. To far left on 1st floor a taking in door. Interior not inspected. Owned by the Stansfields in the C16 and first half of the C17 and tenanted by the Hopkinson family (Kendall, pp 166 9, 172). HP Kendall, 'Higgin Chamber, Sowerby', Halifax Antiquarian Society, Vol 11 (1914), pp157 172.'
(English Heritage listed building description. Date listed 15/11/1966. http://list.english heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1134474. Web site access 24/05/2013).
An archeologically assessement was made of No.5 Higgin Chamber by D.J.H. Michelmore in 1977 (WYAS)(no further information provided). The fieldwork report is transcribed below:
'The name Higgin Chamber is known from the early the sixteenth century, although the latter element is known much earlier. The present name is derived from the Higgin family recorded at the Sowerby area from at least the early 16th century. The name 'Chamber' means an inhabited building, in its true sense a detached solar block. As the present buildings on the site do not appear to be earlier than the 17th century, the existence of the latter element of the name used in the medieval period suggests the presence of medieval buildings on the site, or surviving in an archaeological context.
No.5 Higgin Chamber is a two bay wing (aligned east west) of a larger house which chiefly dates from the 17th century. The roof contains no trusses, the two tiers of purlins being supported by the gables and a central partition wall. The lower pair of purlins of the eastern bay support the principal joist of the floor of a former cock loft, the common joists running the length of the building. The first floor consists of two large rooms occupying a whole bay each, the eastern room being lit by a fine nine light mullioned window in the gable. |