Granary at Evenwood Farm

Summary

Granary at Evenwood Farm, mid-C19.

Reasons for Designation

The Granary is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a good and unaltered example of a mid-C19 granary which retains a significant proportion of its historic fabric;
* it retains distinct structural features, including a raised floor reached by external stone steps, and open bays facing the farmland, that clearly illustrate its original function.

Historic interest:

* reflective of the scale and prosperity of the farm in the mid-C19;
* part of the development of one the Acton Burnell Estate’s tenant farms.

Group value:

* with the other Grade II-listed buildings in the farmstead: the adjacent south barn and stable complex, and with Grade II*-listed Sham Castle, to the west, and the Grade II-registered Acton Burnell Estate park.

History

Evenwood Farm is likely to have originated in the mid- to late-C18 as part of the Acton Burnell Estate, and was developed and enlarged in the C19 and C20.

In the Middle Ages Acton Burnell belonged to the Burnells. Robert Burnell (d 1292) was Bishop of Bath and Wells and Lord Chancellor, who in the C13 rebuilt the church and manor house in an advanced architectural style, and created a deer park on the hill which rises behind them. The manor later passed to the Lovells, from whom it was forfeited to the Crown in 1485. In 1617 it was bought by Humphry Lee of Langley Hall, whose granddaughter, Mary, married Sir Edward Smythe of Eshe Hall (Durham). Thenceforward the Smythes were normally seated at Acton Burnell, the Hall being rebuilt in the 1750s by a subsequent Sir Edward (d 1784) who later improved and embellished the landscape park (registered at Grade II). Evenwood Farm stands just to the east of the park.

The earliest map evidence for the farm dates from 1817. It is shown clearly on the Tithe map of 1843, where there are two L-shaped barns, with a third building to the south. The accompanying apportionments notes house, buildings, fold, and garden, with the adjacent plot described as a yard. It is assumed that the original farmhouse was the building to the south. This was replaced in 1857 by an architecturally fashionable, larger building, facing the park.

A notice in the Shrewsbury Chronicle in 1862 advertised for sale the farming livestock and machinery belonging to occupant EC Moore, who was giving up the farm. The description of the stock and items for sale give an indication of the size, use and facilities of the farm at the time. The livestock for sale included ten short horned dairy cows, six heifers, six yealring cattle, four cart horses with seven sets of first-class new gears, two yearling colts, two cobs, and two prime fat pigs. Equipment and machinery included a dog cart, dennet gig, harnesses, a portable threshing machine, three carts, a Howard’s plough and four sets of harrows, and a ridge plough. Also for sale were the household goods and furniture, including chamber, parlour and sitting room suites.

The 1882 Ordnance Survey map shows that by that stage the granary had been added to the farmstead.

Details

Granary at Evenwood Farm, mid-C19.

MATERIALS: rubble stone with brick dressings, and a tiled roof.

PLAN: the farmstead stands on the south-west side of the unclassified road between Kenley and Acton Burnell.

The principal agricultural buildings stand at the north-west of the group. There are two parallel building ranges: a barn to the south (listed Grade II), and cattle shed to the north, linked by a covered yard, forming a U-plan with a central fold yard.

The GRANARY, with cartshed below, stands at the south-west corner of the southern barn.

The farmhouse, which occupies an irregular footprint, stands to the south-east of the group. Immediately north is a range of stables with ancillary facilities (Grade II).

EXTERIOR: the building faces west, and is three bays and two storeys with a pitched roof. The ground floor has three open bays with brick piers and timber lintels. On the first floor, there are two multiple-light metal-framed windows with segmental brick arches. The first-floor entrance to the granary is via an external flight of brick steps. The ledge and plank door is within a pegged timber frame, within a segmental arched opening. The east elevation and north gable are blind.

INTERIOR: the ground floor of the building is open-sided on the west. Internally, there are two pairs of transverse beams supporting the upper floor, with closely-spaced axial joists. There are two posts on stone pads beneath the central point of the beams. On the first floor the granary floor is boarded and there are timber bins on one side. The roof has a bolted king post truss and a single tier of purlins.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 18 October 2023 to amend details in the description

Sources

Websites
Evenwood Farm (ref 22905), Shropsire Historic Environment Record, accessed 06/03/2020 from http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCS_MSA25287/
List entry: Acton Burnell (park and garden), ref 1001112, accessed 06/03/2020 from https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001112

Other
Evenwood Farm, notice of sale of stock etc, Shrewsbury Chronicle, 17 January 1862, 1

End of official list entry

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