A Walk From Laughton to Brookhouse

 

A traditional finger post road sign

Leaving All Saints church in Laughton-en-le-Morthen, I headed north down the narrow back lane towards Brookhouse, where I was very surprised to discover that there is a drop of 45 metres in the altitude between the two villages – a feature not seen to the south, west or east of Laughton.

 

A view of Laughton-en-le-Morthen

Stopping to look back at Laughton, the components of the outlier can be distinguished, with All Saints church being sited on the edge of a slightly lopsided plateau of the Cadeby Formation, with the underlying Yellow Sands Formation forming a distinct change in slope with the mudstones and siltstones of the Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation beneath it.

 

The geology around Laughton-en-le-Morthen and Brookhouse

Continuing down the road until I could get a good view point to the north, the linear hamlet of Brookhouse is set alongside the west-east flowing Brookhouse Dike, which joins with Tinkerhole Dike and continues east to form Hooton Dike.

 

A topographic map of the area around Brookhouse

Immediately beyond Brookhouse, there is a west-east trending fault - downthrown to the north – with a plateau formed by the Cadeby Formation rising above it, which continues east to Slade Hooton and north to Hooton Levitt.

 

A panoramic view towards Brookhouse from Brookhouse Lane

Arriving at Brookhouse, I was interested to see that Brookhouse Dike, like so many modern watercourses that occupy a significant valley, is just a small stream that flows from the watershed around Thurcroft and Brampton-en-le-Morthen to the west.

 

Brookhouse Dike

It also has a bridged boundary wall like the one I had seen a few weeks earlier at Ravenfield Ponds, when walking from Hooton Cliff to Ravenfield, which approximately marks the point when the dike is culverted alongside Main Street.

 

A boundary wall over Brookhouse Dike

 

Carrying on along Main Street for a couple of hundred metres, I encountered the first of the three Grade II Listed buildings that I wanted to photograph for the British Listed Buildings website. Pear Tree Farmhouse, dating to the late C18, is a three storey house built in well squared and coursed limestone, with projecting quoins and window dressings and topped with a pantile roof.

 

Pear Tree Farmhouse

 

Next to this is a C17 house that has since been converted into three terraced cottages - Lea Cottage, the Cottage, Cobweb Cottage – and is built in limestone that is less well coursed and squared, with a Welsh slate Roof. Its appearance is marred by unsightly sand and cement ribbon pointing and it is listed for its group value.

 

Lea Cottage, the Cottage and Cobweb Cottage

Just a little further down the road is Brookhouse Farmhouse, dating to the late C17 and built of squared and coursed limestone, with large quoins and a pantile roof. As with the buildings seen in Laughton-en-le-Morthen, they are all good examples of vernacular architecture typical of the Magnesian Limestone, but none have any outstanding architectural merit.

 

Views of Brookhouse Farmhouse