Former Granary at Headstone Manor

Summary

Granary or feed store. Probably of late-C18 or early C19 date. Originally located at Pinner Park Farm and re-erected at Headstone Manor in 1990-91.

Reasons for Designation

The former granary at Headstone Manor, probably dating from the late C18 - early C19 and originally located at Pinner Park Farm, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as an unusually large and well-built example of a Georgian granary or feed store. The queen-post roof is a substantial construction of good quality;
* Authenticity: although dismantled and moved from its original location, it was carefully re-erected, preserving a high proportion of its historic fabric.

History

The granary or cattle feed store, was originally erected at Pinner Park Farm, approximately a mile to the north-west of its present location. Pinner Park Farm occupies land originally laid out as a deer park in the C13 on demesne land of the Archbishops of Canterbury. The park remained the property of the See until the manor of Harrow was transferred to the King by Archbishop Cranmer in 1546. Henry VIII subsequently granted the estate to Sir Edward North. In 1630 the park was sold to the Hutchinson family. In 1687 the estate was bought by Sir Edward Waldo and it was sold again in 1731 to St Thomas's Hospital. The hospital retained the property for the next two centuries, leasing the farmland to a succession of tenants. In 1930 the County and Parish Councils purchased the farm to safeguard the open space which was otherwise destined for development as a residential area. The tenancy was retained by the Hall family who had farmed the estate since World War and ran it as a dairy farm. The land remains in agricultural use but part of the farmyard is now leased for light industrial use.

The date of the granary is unknown. The farmhouse dates from 1753 but other farm buildings on the site suggest a redevelopment of the farmstead in the late C18/early C19 and it is likely that the granary also dates from this period.

By the late 1980s the granary was redundant and in poor condition and it was decided to protect it by incorporating it in a plan to recreate the farm yard at nearby Headstone Manor. The building was dismantled and re-erected at its new location in 1990-91 by McCurdy and Co. It was officially opened by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu on 23 January 1992.

Details

DATE: probably late-C18 or early C19. Adapted for use as a museum visitor centre after its relocation in 1990-91.

MATERIALS: brick ground floor with weatherboard clad soft-wood timber frame upper storeys and pitched slate roof.

PLAN: square plan with three storeys, each elevation of four bays.

EXTERIOR: the brick ground floor is laid in Flemish bond. The weatherboarding to the upper storeys is a modern replacement. Each of the upper floors has four windows on each elevation and there is an additional window in each gable. The ground floor has four windows to each side and three windows and a doorway in the gable ends. All windows are set in square-headed openings, have modern secondary glazing, and most retain their vertical iron security bars. The windows have simple timber drip boards except the uppermost row which are protected either by the overhanging eaves or the slightly projecting gables. Internally, the windows have top-hung wooden shutters. The timber door frames contain plank and batten doors with internal round-end strap hinges.

INTERIOR: the roof is supported by five softwood queen post trusses, those forming the gable wall having straight bracing below the tie beam. Other tie beams have reinforcing cast iron brackets secured with iron pegs. Most of the roofing elements and the second-floor studding and bracing are original. The second floor has been removed but the joists remain. At first floor level the principal beams are original but most of the posts have been replaced as has much of the studding and bracing. All grain chutes and bin partitions have been lost.

The ground floor beams, supported on brick piers with replacement timber wall plates, are mostly original, as are the joists, but the posts are replacements. In the northern corner is a modern timber closed string stair. Modern concrete tile floor.

Sources

Other
Harrow Borough Council, Relocation & re-erection of the Granary from Pinner Park Farm to Harrow Museum and Heritage Centre, 1992,

End of official list entry

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