Syke Barn

Summary

Bank barn, at least C18 in date.

Reasons for Designation

Syke Barn of at least C18 date is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a Cumbrian bank barn that retains significant early fabric, pierced by a variety of original openings;

* dating from at least between 1700 and 1850, it sits firmly in the period when most buildings are likely to be regarded of special interest;

* its form and materials combine to produce a farm building that reflects regional character, and illustrates the diversity of past farming practice in England. 

Group value:

* it benefits from significant spatial and historic group value with more than 20 listed domestic and agricultural buildings in Troutbeck, several in the higher grades.

History

The character and detailing of this stone barn, which uses local materials, is consistent with others in Troutbeck which are generally dated to at least the C18 but are probably earlier. Many of these barns are listed. The building is depicted on the first edition 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1859) with an L-shaped footprint; it is associated with a farmhouse immediately across the village street annotated 'Coatsyke'. By the time of the map's resurvey in 1897, Coatsyke is no longer depicted, and a new house (now (2019) Syke Villa) has been constructed immediately to the south-east of the barn. The Barn is included in RW Brunskill's 'Troutbeck Vernacular Trail' contained within his Traditional Buildings of Cumbria. The building is thought to have at one point been used as a carpenter's and wheelwright's workshop.

Details

Bank barn, at least C18 in date.

MATERIALS: local slate-stone with elongated quoins, and a Lakeland slate roof laid in diminishing courses, with wrestler ridge slates.

PLAN: an L-shaped variant bank barn oriented east to west, with a southward projecting west end.

EXTERIOR: (site inspection not possible: information from other sources). The two storey barn is built into the rising slope at the west end. Its undulating roof line implies the presence of an original roof structure, and to the ridge there are rare, wrestler slates. The north elevation has an in-set entrance with a ventilation slit to the right and a small window to the left. There is a first floor window above, set immediately below the eaves, and fitted with a six-pane window frame. A second window to the upper right of the entrance is thought to possibly light a stair; it has a cambered timber lintel with a slate drip stone above and a six-light fixed pane window frame. There are four inserted roof lights. The north gable of the western projection has a small opening to its apex, and below is a timber mullioned window with an elbowed wooden lintel. The west gable has a line of through stones or a slate drip mould.

INTERIOR: (site inspection not possible): no information.

Sources

Books and journals
Brunskill, RW, Traditional Buildings of Cumbria, (2002), 199-203

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