The Great Barn

A fine brick and stone building with a slate roof, complete with ball finial. Dating from 1694, it is the oldest building in the Home Farm complex and is Listed Grade II. It is divided by the Threshing Arch, with the stables to the south end and the slaughterhouse to the north and above is a loft area. Two of the beams are clearly marked, one with
16 AT 94 and EI IR and the other with CDI69IIII. However, the tablet on the south gable end is inscribed An.Dom.1744.

The Threshing Arch

This high-arched passageway was able to admit loaded wagons, thus allowing goods to be off-loaded directly into the loft, but it could also be used as a threshing area with a good through draft. There is evidence within the brickwork and wooden lintels to show that the height of the passageway has been altered over the years and that at sometime it was also fitted with doors.

The Stables

Heavy horses were the main source of power for well over a hundred years, the numbers used in farming alone reaching a peak just before the 1st World War. Their importance is reflected in the superior standard of their housing and the care they received. The Home Farm had nine standings or stalls plus two loose boxes. During restoration in the 1980s only four standings were reinstated in the main room while the two partitions in the boxes opposite have since been removed. The two loose boxes adjacent to the Threshing Arch have been knocked into one and a doorway bricked up.

The individual stalls were separated by partitions, usually wooden, that were highest at the head end to restrict visibility, strong enough to take a leaning or kicking horse and spaced roughly 5 – 6 feet (1.5 – 1.8 metres) apart. The floor sloped gently to a drainage channel well behind the stalls. Each stall had a hay rack, trough and tethering ring. Many stables had a loft above which was used for storing hay and straw and the hay racks below could be filled through a convenient slot in the floor. The loft also provided insulation, another advantage as horses are susceptible to the cold.

The Old Slaughterhouse

This room occupied the whole of the ground floor to the north end of the barn. There is a chimney breast in the north-west corner but no fireplace and the whole of the lower part of the wall is covered with white glazed tiles with a blue border.

Back to Farm Map

On to the Dovecote