Tarn House Ravenstonedale (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY74970339
Latitude 54.42532° Longitude -2.38727°

Tarn House Ravenstonedale has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Pele Tower although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry footings remains.

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

Description

House; dated 1664 on door lintels with initials G.F. & I.F. (for George Fothergill and his wife Julian). May incorporate part of earlier building; some later alterations. Stable is addition, probably C18. House, wet-dashed rubble with quoins; stable, coursed squared rubble. Graduated slate roofs to house; stable roof corrugated asbestos to front and graduated stone flags to rear. Wing to rear. 2 storeys with 1 -storey porch. 5-bay house has chamfered plinth. Outer entrance to central gabled porch has architrave with incised scrolled stops to jambs and 4-centred head with dated lintel; stone side benches. Studded plank inner door has chamfered surround with 4-centred head. 6-light window to right and two 2-light windows to left all under continuous hoodmould, carried round porch as string, with ornate scrolled labels. Framed stone over porch entrance (re-used?) shows 5 shields bearing the arms of Fothergill, Scrope, Dent, Brand, and Skelton; lobed square opening above with ornate scrolled labels to hoodmould. 2-light and 4-light windows to 1st floor right, two 2-light windows to left; all windows under hoodmoulds with scrolled labels. The larger windows are subdivided by king mullions into 2-light windows. All original windows to front and rear wing are casements in double-chamfered surrounds with chamfered stone mullions. East return has single window (1st floor blocked) in chamfered surround with trefoil head (re-used?). 2-bay stable: Door with casement and narrow blocked opening to each floor on left; loft entrance up ramp on west return. Stone copings and kneelers to porch and gables; diagonally-set finial to porch; stepped and corniced end chimneys to house. Interior: House has large segment-arched fireplaces to ground floor east and rear kitchen; some shaped door-lintels with decorative carving. 2-stage cupboard built into C17 partition, with pierced frieze, separating kitchen from stairs. Massive chamfered beams. Stable has single upper-cruck truss. Said to be the first house in the district with a slated roof. (Listed Building Report)

With 14th century windows, was rebuilt in 1664 by George Fothergill. Over the front door are the initials and date G.F., I.F., 1664, George having married Julian second daughter of Richard Skelton of Armathwaite. Here lived Sir Thomas Fothergill, standard bearer to the first lord Wharton, when Lord Warden of the Western March (1537–42). (Curwen 1932)

Comments

Site of a gentry status manor house. Included by Perriam and Robinson in their gazetteer of medieval fortified buildings but there is no actually evidence the house was fortified either with a moat or a tower, although the house of such a military figure as the Lord Warden's standard bearer might be expected to have some martial symbolism.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1158397
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 14781.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

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. 309 (plan)
  Palmer, J.H., 1944, Historic Farmhouses in and around Westmorland (Kendal) p. 114
  RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 198-9 no. 3 online transcription
  Curwen, J.F., 1932, 'Parishes (East Ward): St Oswald, Ravenstonedale' The Later Records relating to North Westmorland: or the Barony of Appleby (Kendal: CWAAS Record Series 8) p. 217 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1947, 'Proceedings' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 47 p. 209 online copy
  Collingwood, W.G., 1926, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Westmorland and Lancashire North-of-the-Sands' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 26 p. 5 online copy
  1902, 'Proceedings' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 2 p. 405 online copy

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