Barn C.20M North West of Foxrush Farmhouse

Details

REDCAR NZ 52 SE KIRKLEATHAM lANE (west side (off))

4/77 Barn c.20m north west of Foxrush Farmhouse

29.4.88

(Formerly listed as: REDCAR KIRKLEATHAM lANE (west side (off)) Barn and stable, c.20m north west of Foxrush Farmhouse)

GV II

Threshing Barn, mid C18

MATERIALS: Brick; clay pantile roofs with stone ridge and gable copings.

PLAN: rectangular with original sub-division at east end, forming rear range of mid C18 E-plan model farm

EXTERIOR: The north face of the barn has a central opening, enlarged and with mid C20 boarded sliding double doors. There are boarded doors at each end and two blocked and boarded openings at first-floor level in addition to a blocked shaft opening for the threshing machine in the upper west end and scattered slit breathers for ventilation. The east gable end has a blocked door to the right of the mid C19 external stair, with rendered stone steps and C20 handrail, leading to boarded segment-headed loft door. To the right there is a blocked segment-headed window. The south face of the barn has a centrally placed entrance and scattered slit breathers. The barn has a three-course stepped brick eaves cornice and block kneelers.

INTERIOR: The barn has a subdivided space at the east end which probably functioned as a straw room, brick pilasters along both sides rising to a wall plate and a King Post roof structure. The west end has been partially subdivided in recent times.

The mid-C20 byre enclosing the more easterly courtyard and adjoining the south side of the barn, the stable adjoining the east side of byre, the implement shed and attached lean-to adjoining west end of barn and the east and south wall of the former stable range attached to the south side of the barn are not of special interest.

HISTORY: The period 1750-1880 is the most important for farm building development and one which witnessed major developments in both plans and building types. Changes in farming practice such as the widespread adoption of artificial fertilisers and feeds, the extension of mechanisation, the accommodation and feeding of greater numbers of livestock and the application of process-flow and scientific principles were reflected in farm planning. Courtyard layouts were developed in which the various farm processes were carefully placed in relationship to each other. Hence, barns, stables, feed stores and cattle shelters were ranged around a yard or yards and carefully placed in relation to one another in order to minimise labour and conserve manure.

The extensive Kirkleatham Estate was improved by its owner Charles Turner who, in the late 1750s, set about consolidation and restructuring his land holdings and completing enclosure of farmland while introducing new farming practices. He constructed eleven new model farmsteads including that at Foxrush Farm which were admired in 1768 by the agricultural journalist Arthur Young. This barn and stable are present on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1857 as the rear range and western arm respectively of an E-plan farmstead labelled as Foxrush Farm; subsequent OS editions confirm that its footprint remained largely unchanged to the C20 when the gin gang to the rear of the barn was removed and the east courtyard was in filled with two modern barns; more recently the stable range has collapsed.

SOURCES: Wade Martins, S 'The English Model Farm: Building the Agricultural Ideal'(2002) Young, Arthur 'A Six Months Tour Through the North of England', Vol 1 (1770), 107-162

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: This mid to later C18 barn forming the rear range of an E-plan farmstead is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* it provides a good example of mid C18 barn dating from one of the most important phases in the history of farm building development * it illustrates the character and development of local farming traditions within the context of the overall national patterns in farming history * it has Group Value with the adjacent farmhouse * It is strongly representative of the vernacular building traditions of the north east lowlands * It is a well preserved example of a pre-mechanised threshing barn, later converted to mechanical threshing

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

60333

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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