Hennery-Piggery and attached Privy

Summary

Hen and pig house with attached privy, mid to late-C19.

Reasons for Designation

This hennery-piggery of mid to late-C19 date is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural: an intact hennery-piggery in the local vernacular which retains a suite of diagnostic features;
* Rarity: a good example of an increasingly rare form of small multi-functional animal housing nationally;
* Original layout: it retains its original two-level layout with attached privy, and its original form and function are easily readable;
* Regional diversity and character: a farm building type characteristic of this region, which illustrates the diversity of past farming practice in England.

History

A hennery-piggery, sometimes called a poultiggery, is a combined stone-built hen house and piggery; it housed pigs on the ground floor and hens were kept in a loft above. It was thought that the hens would keep the pigs warm and the pigs would frighten away predators such as foxes. This example at Lunds Farm is not depicted on the first edition 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey map of the area surveyed in 1848, but it is shown on the subsequent Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1892-3. Therefore the map evidence suggests that the building was constructed between these two dates and is mid to late-C19 in date.

Details

Hen and pig house with attached privy, mid to late-C19.

MATERIALS: rubble sandstone, graduated stone slate roof with clay ridge tiles.

PLAN: L-shaped with piggery to ground floor and hennery to first floor; attached privy to east end.

EXTERIOR: two storey traditional animal housing with a pitched roof and stonework laid in courses with large quoins. The south elevation has a low ground floor entry to the piggery at the left end, and there is stone stepped ladder access to the hennery through a central rectangular bird hole situated immediately below the eaves. The scar of a former small lean-to building is visible in the wall at the right end. The east gable has a soil hole now blocked, and the west gable has a tall, first floor door reached by a stone-built platform accessed by a set of stone steps. The entrance is fitted with an historic plank door. The rear elevation of the animal housing is blind, but the inset rear elevation of the privy has an entrance with a crude lintel fitted with a C20 door.

INTERIOR: the ground floor retains at least one of the original joists while others have been replaced. The first floor has timber fittings in the form of perches parallel to the south wall and the remains of nest boxes against the north wall. Both pitches of the roof structure have been replaced with sawn timbers. There is plaster or lime wash to all interior walls. The double privy has a stone flagged front and wooden tops.


This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 1 September 2021 to correct a website link in Selected sources

Sources

Books and journals
Brunskill, R W, Traditional Farm Buildings in England, (1987), 79
Denyer, S, Traditional Buildings and Life in The Lake District, (1991), 108-9

Websites
National Farm Building Types, accessed 20-12-2016 from https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/national-farm-building-types/national-building-types-2014.pdf/
National Character Area 21 Yorkshire Dales, accessed 01/09/2021 from https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2019/10/traditionalfarmbuildingsurvey-yorkshire-dales.pdf

End of official list entry

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