Courtyard Buildings at Lower Whitehill Farm

Summary

A courtyard arrangement of farm buildings, built in the mid-C19, in a near-symmetrical arrangement.

Reasons for Designation

The mid-C19 Courtyard Buildings at Lower Whitehill Farm are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a planned group of buildings, forming an open courtyard and facing their farmhouse, which express their different functions and are built to a consistent pattern with careful detailing.

Historic interest:

* as a good example of the methods of high farming in Victorian England, allying science and careful planning in the service of improved agricultural efficiency.

Group value:

* with Lower Whitehill Farmhouse (Grade II).

History

The open courtyard arrangement of farm buildings appears to have been built at the same time as the farmhouse in the mid C19. The tithe map dated 1844 does not show the farm house or farm buildings, but the Ordnance Survey (OS) map published in 1875 shows the full extent of the house and courtyard and also shows what appear to be animal pens at the centre of the rectangular courtyard grouping. The map published in 1899 shows pens and smaller buildings which may have been for housing livestock such as pigs and hens, as well as larger pens, probably for cows. The OS map published in 1975 shows a large, rectangular, C20 farm building in the centre of the yard and this arrangement still exists today as a metal-framed building with breeze block infill and corrugated roof.

The building which forms the western corner of the courtyard was shown as still roofed on the OS map of 1899 and appears to have been partially demolished in the C20, retaining the lower walls of this range and now (March 2021) fully demolished as part of the permitted alterations to the complex.

The land including and surrounding Lower Whitehill Farm apparently formed part of the Duke of Marlborough's estate at this period of the C19. The estate was not known for its improvement of facilities, but this site may have been an exception. Parts of Whitehill were also owned by Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The near-symmetrical arrangement and date of the buildings and similarities in the pattern of construction of the buildings, indicating that they were all built at a similar period, together with their alignment with Lower Whitehill Farmhouse, makes it probable that this was built as part of an estate development, with the intention of improved productivity. Such developments were organised along the systems outlined by the Board of Agriculture and, after its foundation in1838, by the Royal Agricultural Society.

Details

A courtyard arrangement of farm buildings, built in the mid C19, in a near-symmetrical arrangement, most probably as an estate development. The structural survey report (see SOURCES) identifies the seven buildings by letters A-G and that method is also used here to avoid confusion.

MATERIALS and PLAN: rubble stone brought to course with ashlar dressings and corrugated asbestos sheeting to the gabled roofs. The group of farm buildings form three sides of an open courtyard arrangement with the open side facing south-east towards the contemporary farm house. The range on the north-western side has a barn at it centre (building D) with single-storey farm buildings on line with it to either side (buildings C and E), and projecting wings at either end (buildings A-B and F-G). There are seven buildings of single and double storey height, divided by party walls. The original internal partitions have been removed, making identification of the original functions of the buildings difficult to identify precisely.

Building D is the central, double-height barn on the northern side of the courtyard. It has seven bays, with central, double doors to both the yard front and the rear, indicating that it was probably built as a threshing barn. The original barn doors have been replaced and lowered in height on the yard side. At either side of the central doors on both fronts are two breathers which have cusped and pointed heads. The roof trusses each have a tie beam and queen struts which connect to the principals, with a central iron rod connecting the tie beam to the apex, and this pattern of truss is common to all of the buildings around the yard. There are two ranks of purlins to each side. The original arrangement of common rafters has been reduced in number in the barn. The original floor has been replaced with a concrete raft, common to all of the buildings at ground floor level, and there are cattle grids set into the floor inside the entrance from the outer side, or rear.

Buildings C and E are to the east and west of the barn and in-line with it. Each is single-storey. Building C has now lost its roof and the majority of its walls, but it appears to have been similar to building E. Marks in the gable end of the barn and building B show that it had a gabled roof with two ranks of purlins. Building E has a single doorway to the yard and two doors to the rear.

Buildings A and B form the southern end of the western side of the yard. Building A has a single sliding door to the eastern end of its rear side and a blank gable end. The yard front has three doorways and six windows to the upper walling. As with the barn, the roof trusses are formed of a tie beam, queen struts and two ranks of purlins with a tie rod at the centre.

Building B is of two storeys. Facing the yard the stone walling has full-height openings at first-floor level which appear to have been taking-in doors. The rear, facing the fields, has a series of eight bays at ground-floor level flanked by square timber posts which appears to be an animal shelter, with rubbed timber posts of square section standing on pyramidal stones. Above this is a loft with a clapboard side and adjustable timber ventilation louvers. The interior of Building B has the same trusses as elsewhere with iron re-enforcing rods.

Buildings F and G form the southern end of the eastern side of the yard and are single-storey. Both appear to have been intended to house animal stalls, with blank stone walling to the outer side. Building F has a C20 ribbon window with metal frame to the top of the wall, running along the yard front with a single sliding door. Building G has to its inner, yard side a series of eleven openings divided by original stout, square posts with jowled tops which support the roof trusses. These indicate a former cattle shelter, but the lower walling has been infilled with concrete blocks and rendered in the C20, with two sliding doors with hopper windows above. Roofs are of the type seen elsewhere with tie beams, principles and queen struts and queen posts, but building G is missing original common rafters on the outer slope of its roof which has been partially boarded in the C20.

Stone walling has been re-enforced by a lining of concrete blocks to its inner sides on buildings A and G.

Sources

Books and journals
Wade Martins, S, The English Model Farm, Building the Agricultural Ideal, 1700-1914, (2002)

Other
Structural Inspection of Agricultural Buildings Lower Whitehill Barns, Tackley, West Oxfordshire, Glanville, 2020

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