History

Early 1850s and probably designed by the Liverpool architect W.H. Gee for John Naylor's Leighton Farm, the model farm of the Leighton Estate. John Naylor had acquired the Leighton Estate in 1846-47 and embarked on an ambitious programme of building, principally Leighton Hall, church and Farm, which was largely completed by the mid 1850s. Naylor continued to extend and improve the Estate until his death in 1889. His grandson, Captain J.M. Naylor, sold the Estate in 1931, when Leighton Farm was bought by Montgomeryshire County Council. From the mid C20 the block has been converted to light industrial use.

Leighton Farm was a model farm where rational farming methods were employed using techniques derived from science and industry. It was characteristic of its period but especially notable for its scale. Apart from the rationalisation of farm design, its principal aims were to provide better shelter for livestock and fodder, the recycling of manure as fertiliser, and mechanisation, principally in the form of turbines and hydraulic rams. Circular buildings were unusual, the received wisdom at the time being that they were impractical.

The main farm complex is roughly square in plan and enclosed by perimeter roads (although important buildings were added beyond it). The farm was a piecemeal development but it is structured either side of a central E-W axis in which a threshing barn was built with hay and fodder storage buildings either side of it, all of which were linked by a broad gauge railway. On the N and S sides of this axis stockyards were built, served by 2 N-S service roads in addition to the perimeter roads. By 1849 4 small yards (Stockyard IV) had been built S of the Threshing Barn with a Stable fronting the road, these 3 elements forming the central block of buildings. On the E and W sides, fronting the road to the S, houses were built (on the W side with an office and further livestock sheds behind). After 1849 3 stockyards (Stockyards I, II, III) were built on the N side of the main axis. By 1855 there had been additions beyond the perimeter road, with the building of a Mill and Pig and Sheep houses (which enclose 2 further stockyards) on the N side and a further stock shed with yard on the W side. In the late 1850s a Sheep-Drying Shed and a further Fodder Storage Building in line with the main E-W axis had been added, followed by a Root Shed at the south-east corner of the complex in the 1860s.

The buildings were carefully designed to achieve a strong visual impact when approached from the roads to the N or W. The landscape was carefully controlled so that Leighton Farm could not be seen from the main Buttington to Forden road to W, alongside which was a mixed woodland plantation. The main entrance to the farm was intended to be from the N side where there is an imposing gateway and lodge beside the church. The pig and sheep houses in particular create a grand facade when approached from the N, but Stockyards I and II, the Fodder Storage Buildings, Stable and Poolton at the south-west corner, are all designed to impress when viewed from the outside.

Exterior

Consisting of 2 circular sheds both of which are open in the centre; the W shed was a sheep house, the E shed was a piggery. These are joined by a long link range which housed sheep on the N side, facing the fields, and probably cattle on the S side facing the 2 stockyards. The link range has a short S wing attached to the mill, which also housed cattle while its attic was probably used for fodder storage. Single storey and of brick with vent ridges and slate roofs. The link range has an aisled cross-gable on its N side forming an impressive facade. The cross-gable has a coped gable on moulded kneelers. In the gable are 2x round-headed windows (partly louvred) and below are 4 similar windows. The basement of the cross-gable has 4 tunnel-vaulted bays to L of which is a stairway leading to an open walkway on the N side of the link. The walkway has a high brick parapet wall and is built on a rubble plinth with a single large round-headed opening flanked each side by 2 lunettes, leading to 5 vaulted cells. To R of the cross-gable is a shorter plinth and parapet wall.

The W sheep house has some louvres in the vent ridge but is otherwise boarded or glazed. C20 windows and doors under concrete lintels are inserted in its outer wall. Its inner wall has drains at the internal floor level above a deep sump in which there are 8 radiating tunnels with round-headed openings. Around the W and N sides of the sheep house is a coped brick wall. The E piggery is built on a random rubble plinth. It has some louvres in its vent ridge, which is otherwise boarded, and has inserted doorways in its outer wall. The piggery also has a single-storey E wing, probably built as a cowhouse, with 6 infilled arched openings in the S wall and large sliding wooden doors in the E gable.

The S wing of the link range has louvres in its vent ridge and C20 openings.

Interior

The circular ranges have concrete floors.

Reasons for Listing

The Leighton Estate is an exceptional example of high-Victorian estate development. It is remarkable for the scale and ambition of its conception and planning, the consistency of its design, the extent of its survival, and is the most complete example of its type in Wales. Leighton Farm is one of the principal foci of this development and is a Victorian model farm of national importance, representing the pioneering use of new technology, displaying a highly-structured layout and achieving an impressive architectural unity. Listed Grade II*, the Piggery and Sheep Shed is an integral part of the complex. It is a highly-specialised building type of an unusual design and makes a crucial contribution to the architectural setting of the farm.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17744308

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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