| Description | 'The Bake House', Myrr Hill, Sowerby (SE 03047 23735). 18th or early 19th century laithe house. Includes 19th century ovens.
Myrr Hill was the subject of an archaeological assessment by Peter Thornborrow in 1993. The photographic images produced by the assessment are held by WYAAS (Thornborrow, P.H. 1993. 'Sowerby: Myrr Hill Lane').
The images describe a house and attached barn with a linear plan. The range has a roughly east west alignment (c.17.5m by c.6m). The house and barn is built of coursed quarry dressed sandstone and has heavy quoins at all the visible angles. There is no join between the house and barn and the roof line is continuous suggesting a single build. The roof is gabled with sandstone flags. All the openings have squared plain sandstone lintels. Cills and jambs, where they occur are also square.
The house is positioned at the western end of the range. The door is centrally placed in the southern facade of the house. This is flanked on either side by windows, the proportions suggesting it may have originally been a two light window with the central mullion now removed. Above each of these on the first floor are two irregular sized single light windows. The chimney is positioned in the central roof ridge at the division between house and barn. The rear of the house was not recorded.
Attached to the western end of the range is a house. This appears as a later addition because there is a clear break between the two and the roof height is higher. The later house butts the quoined western end of laithe range. This house may also have more than one phase or be two separate dwellings now joined. Thornborrow's images describe a door adjacent to the join. This has now gone. The current entrance is centrally positioned between a pair of flanking two light windows. Two light windows are present immediately above on the first floor with a single light window above the door. Adjacent to the door to the immediate east is a quoined edge now fossilised in the south facing elevation.
The barn, at the eastern end of the range, has a small centrally positioned cart entrance in the southern elevation. A narrow door is positioned on the southern elevation adjacent to the gable. This is opposed by an opening (possible a narrow door) on the north elevation. A small window was positioned above the cart entrance. An opposing cart entrance could not be identified as at the time of survey the area was covered by a wooden lean to. The eastern gable of the barn had two small single light windows and two vent slits. Interior shots depict a king post truss supported roof. Also described on the ground floor is an inserted cast iron double oven set in a white ceramic faced brick surround. The ovens possibly date to the late 19th century (Hunter, D. 2013 (Senior Archaeologist. WYAAS. Pers. comm.).
The range appears on OS 6' 1st edition mapping of c.1850 (sheet 230). The building footprint is extant from the 19th century with some modification to the house extension to the west (OS 25' 1st edition. c.1894). Stylistically, the heavy quoins, windows and flat lintel wagon entrance suggest an 18th or early 19th century origin.
(Lunn, K.R. (WYAAS). 2013. 'Description of 'The Bake House', Myrr Hill, Sowerby based on photographic images, historic mapping and on line map resources'. Description found in HER record only).
Current online map resources depict the barn as extant and converted to a dwelling with additional inserted windows (http://maps.google.co.uk/. Web site accessed 17/06/2013). |