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Description: Barn approximately 15 metres north-east of Higgin Chamber

Address: Higgin Chamber Barn Higgin Chamber Luddendenfoot Halifax West Yorkshire

Grade: II

Group detail: Sowerby Lane (west side), Boulder Clough

Full description:
DELISTED 9TH DECEMBER 2013 BY SoS SUMMARY OF BUILDING A mid C19 barn, now converted to domestic use. REASONS FOR DESIGNATION No 14 Higgin Chamber, a converted C19 barn, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Date: as a mid C19 agricultural building it falls within the internationally most important period of farm building development in England; * Architectural interest: the barn retains a number of features that reflect its former agricultural functions; * Historic interest: the development of the site of the barn and its environs is of historic interest in the wider context of the region, and its modern conversion to domestic use is the latest indication of the evolving history of the area. HISTORY The site of Higgin Chamber has been in use since at least the mid-C17, though the name Chamber may suggest a medieval origin. The earliest extant building is the listed (Grade II) Higgin Chamber, to the south of the former barn, which dates to at least the C17 with later alterations and additions. A building with a similar footprint and an intervening central block joining the house and barn appear on the OS 1:10560 map of 1854, the whole marked as Higgin Mill (worsted). The presence of a mill pond to the west and the reference to a taking-in door in the listed Higgin Chamber building confirm the industrial function of the site at this period. The mill is recorded as having burnt down in 1856, and the extant row of cottages between Higgin Chamber and the former barn replaced the central portion at some point between 1856 and the next available map of 1894. The southern end of the mill certainly survived, this being the C17 house, Higgin Chamber, but it is unclear whether the northern end, occupied by the barn, was destroyed or not. The footprint of the building has remained unchanged since the 1894 OS 1:2500 map, and surviving features are consistent with its use as a barn from the mid C19. The barn was converted to domestic use in the early C21. DETAILS MATERIALS: the building is constructed of shaped coursed rubble with a stone slate roof. PLAN: the two storey building has three bays with a single storey outshut offset to the rear. It is aligned north-south with its long axis facing the road to the east, and lies immediately to the north of a row of cottages that are attached to a C17 house, listed Grade II. EXTERIOR: the front elevation has a central former cart entrance, now a window, with a segmental arch, voussoirs and keystone. To either side are slit vents and at each end a doorway with an adjacent window to the inner side, both with plain stone jambs and lintels. Above the cart entrance is a Venetian window, flanked by inserted square single lights. The left return (south side) has two ground floor inserted square windows, slit vents and a small segmental arched opening in the gable top. The right return (north side) has slit vents, a blocked lower opening and an inserted window. The outshut extends from the rear of the south side towards the west and has a small arched original window and a pent roof. To the rear is a matching cart entrance to that at the front with a Venetian window above. At the right end is a doorway now blocked, and windows have been inserted at the first floor. INTERIOR: the interior has been converted to form domestic accommodation. Of the roof structure, the main purlins and two main trusses were retained, while the rafters and ridge were replaced. Other internal features are modern. SELECTED SOURCES D Michelmore, 5 Higgin Chamber, West Yorkshire County Council Archaeology Service, 1977, attached to case