Low Whita Farm, Swaledale

Bob Sydes, listed buildings caseworker for England at the Council for British Archaeology, presents examples from the council’s files

Occasionally we are treated to an outstanding survival of a historic building, previously little understood or recognised. Low Whita Farmhouse is such a survival. It is a complex of two separate ranges, three detached barns – one known as the Gig House – a walled garden, early 19th-century railings, gates and surfaces, and a mid-19thcentury buttery and possible cheese manufactory. The ensemble represents substantial evidential, historical and communal value from at least the 17th to the mid-20th century. One of the stone barns contains evidence of an early cruck-framed thatched building, and other structures were also formerly built around crucks (an early device where large curved timbers reach from the ground to the top of the roof).

The earliest (formerly thatched) cottage, used as a farm building, retains early to mid-20th-century pencil graffiti, including an entertaining drawing of a policeman, on what appears to be original 17th-century wall plaster. There are also numerous apotropaic marks (protective symbols against witches) around doors and windows. The drawings, which include personal names, are a rare survival and an insight into the lives of children and young adults on the farm. Many names can be linked to known residents.

The current owner wishes to convert these buildings, which are not listed, into substantial residences. The Yorkshire Dales National Park ( ydnp) conservation staff helped serve a building preservation notice on the complex, which confers the same requirements on owners as if the buildings were listed. A listed building consent application was duly lodged by the owner, accompanied by a heritage statement and a commitment to conserve “important” features wherever possible.

Neither the cba, nor Historic England nor the ydnp was convinced. Objections were lodged. Ours concluded that the application gave insufficient attention to conservation, and that the development would substantially harm the heritage significance of what we saw as a nationally important group of early farm buildings. The cba also concluded that progress on this application should be properly informed by the results of Historic England’s assessment for designation, which is being determined.

To assist in that process, Historic England has consulted the ydnp and the cba. We contend that there is a case for designating the main buildings as 2*, putting them in the top 8% of national designations. There is however, a very high bar to meet. Grade 2* buildings or structures need to demonstrate “more than special interest”.

The cba maintains that the farm complex, incorporating evidence of probable late medieval cruck-framed buildings, represents a Dales farm of “more than special interest” and is worthy of consideration as a grade 2* designation. Although several highlighted aspects of “special interest” can be identified elsewhere in the Dales, such as raised roof lines to former thatched cottages, the cba is convinced that the combination of factors in one single site, relatively unchanged from the mid-20th century, is unusual.

However Historic England resolves this, there is a clear need for the applicant to be more sensitive to conservation so these buildings can be converted in a way that retains their significance and visual appeal. The cba stands ready to play its part in seeking a sustainable future for the site.