Beck House in Giggleswick: The House and its Builder

Abstract

Abstract Beck House in Giggleswick has been largely overlooked by local and architectural historians. Its architectural quality raises the question of when it was built and by whom. Whilst offering a description of the house, this paper draws on the title deeds and other materials to show that the builder was almost certainly one Charles Nowell (d. 1749), a gentleman with connections to the legal and gentry circles of north Craven and who may have been a lawyer himself. The house was probably erected soon after Nowell’s acquisition of the site in 1720. Parallels are explored.