Listed Building record MDR1797 - Dakin House, Hartgatewall, Wormhill

Dakin House is a good example of local vernacular architecture, dated 1623 on the front. It is irregular on plan, and is built of stone with stone slate roof and stone stacks. It has a two window front, with stone mullioned windows, and a plain square-framed door. There are also moulded ceiling beams. (1) Dakin Farmhouse (formerly listed as Dakin house) is a grade II listed farmhouse, dated 1623 on the lintel of the main doorway, with 18th century alterations and additions. Coursed rubble limestone with gritstone dressings. Quoins, plain gables, intermediate and end ashlar stacks, and stone slated roof. (2) The English Heritage listing summary dates Dakin Farmhouse from 1623, taken from the stones set in the front elevation above the front door. Although the house may have been built around that time, Christopher Drewry (2007), in his book 'Wormhill', explains that the date stones reveal a story about religious persecution. They read: G T ? T 16(2?)... and H T A T : R E F D 1623. The left-hand stone is the most faded and is thought the earlier of the two, though it also appears to date from the 1620s. If so, GT-T would refer to the generation preceding HTAT. HTAT are the initials of Humphrey Thornhill and Ann Thornhill his wife. The letters REFD are probably an abbreviation for 'Reformed', indicating that 1623 was the year when they transferred their religious allegiance to the Reformed (Protestant) Church. This is a relatively late date to adopt the Protestant faith and perhaps they had been waiting to see where the religious allegiances of the country would end up. Eventually they may have become all the keener to make a public display of their conversion out of fear of being accused of recusancy, which carried a penalty of a severe fine or imprisonment. (3)