Low House has a long history but in it's design can be traced a much older history than first apparant. And the same goes for the farm structures, if not even older. Pliny, the Roman, laid out the size and design of cattle stalls still used by the farms in Deepdale and the farms themselves are derived from Viking designs. 

 

Before the widespread advent of stone houses, in the 17th Century, most farms and cottages were cruck framed buildings with low stone or wood walls and heather roofing. If you go to the Craven Arms in Appletreewick you can see a perfectly reconstructed cruck barn on the back. Although this was built just three years ago they used all the original methods, even carting the wooden crucks by horse from the Bolton Abbey Estate. (If you look in the back of the Barns of the Yorkshire Dales book in the kitchen you can see pictures of it being built.)

 

This house was the first of the remaining stone houses in Deepdale. Nigel’s farm, East Deepdale Farm, over to the right, was built in 1679 by a Quaker, who was subsequently jailed for non-payment of taxes! David’s, behind ours, was built in 1693. They have date-stones but unfortunately ours was removed in a less sensitive time in order to heighten the front door. A simple visual comparison of the other farms tells you this is the oldest. I’m afraid we can only date it to the early to mid 17th Century. It is a low building with chamfered mullion windows and is the roughest in build type, limestone rubble. It is also of the oldest farm type known in the dales, the long house.

 

The long house is essentially a Viking design. The farm is often built in to the hill, to allow loading of hay to the hayloft for the animals in the byre, as ours is. The barn is an integral part of the design. Originally the dwelling area consisted of the lounge and the little side room and what is now the kitchen but was then a barn. The side barn was actually built at a later date even though it looks like it’s been here forever. There were still pigs in the kitchen in the 50s according to David!

 

The house has been occupied by the Parker family for the majority of the time since the late 17th Century, which we traced through the Hubberholme parish records and later census records.

 

Through the 19th Century the Parkers continued to lease the farm. David remembers the later members who stayed on until the late 40s. It was probably one of the Rowland Parkers who extended to the barn. The only reason I guess this is that the date 1861 is roughly carved in the door way, along with plenty RP initials. There were several Rowland Parkers, they showed little imagination when it came to names. The last Rowland died in one of the last battles of World War 1. We have a picture of him in one of the books lying around and he’s remembered in the church at Hubberholme.   

 

In the 20th Century the advent of motorised transport has changed farming practices to some extent although the basics remain the same.

 

I’m not sure exactly when the land associated with this farm was transferred to the other two farms, but it would have been around 1950. Since then a variety of people have lived here, many of whom still live locally and we meet occasionally. We bought it in 2005, and I have to say it was a wreck. There was an unreliable spring water supply, now replaced by a 350ft deep borehole, no central heating, no internal doors and it was filthy and unused. The floors in the kitchen were blue cement!

 

Since then it’s been a labour of love. Perhaps our best new feature is the Rayburn surround built by a local artisan stone mason. It looks like it has been here forever, and maybe now it will be.

 

We also hope that you enjoy the garden. It’s a real work in progress but we are turning it into a wildlife refuge by planting native plants to create a wildflower meadow. The pond was added in 2009. It will take a few years but we’ll get there!

 

We first rented the house out in 2010 when we were unable to use it as much as we liked and I would say it’s been a success. Everybody has treated the place with a great deal of respect and it’s a pleasure to share it under these circumstances.