Photograph - Mono (Document ID: 100741)

Exterior of Bank House, Warley, Luddenden Dean, West Yorkshire.

Bank House in Warley was built in 1650 and is the oldest surviving example of a laithe house, in which the human dwelling part and the laithe (barn or byre) are under the same roof, but with no internal connection. Elsewhere in the country they are known as longhouses. The 17th century was a period when construction of these was common and more were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in Pennine farms built after the Enclosures.

A Grade II listed building, it is a traditional stone house with stone roof and 2 storeys. Main (south) front has 2 long mullioned windows to each storey, lower ones with round-arched heads and label mouldings. Barn to east under same roof, its arched entrance inscribed Gilbert Brockbank in Gothic letters and 2-light window over a 2nd blocked doorway. Rear altered and faced with pebbledash. East extension of no interest. (Bank House together with Nos. 1 & 2 Bank Houses Cottages & barn adjoining form a group).

The photographer, Hugh Percy Kendall, was a founder member of the Halifax Antiquarian Society in 1900 and a frequent contributor to their transactions. He was also a former president of the Halifax Photographic Society. He died in 1937 at the age of 62.

back to search results