Lane Foot Farm bank barn, attached possible smithy and cartshed and detached former wash house, Lakes, Cumbria

Summary

Bank barn, C18 with attached possible smithy and rear cartshed and a detached wash house.

Description

Bank barn, C18 with attached possible smithy and rear cartshed and a detached wash house.

Materials: local rubble stone with prominent quoins and Lakeland slate roofs.

Plan: a rectangular bank barn oriented north east to south west and set into ground that slopes upwards to the rear. It has a central projecting bay to the south east side, and an attached rectangular range to the north-east. Immediately to the north-west there is a small detached former wash house.

Exterior: the bank barn is a two-storey building with substantial elongated quoins to its principle corners, and regular rows of through stones. It has a pitched roof and there is evidence of some modifications in the form of inserted and blocked openings. The south-east elevation has a two-storey, projecting central bay, thought to be a stable with hayloft over, which also has prominent quoins and through-stones. This has a first-floor ventilation slit and winnowing door, and the ground floor has a single ventilation slit and a small inserted window, probably a modified ventilation slit. To the left of the projecting bay there is an original entrance to the ground floor flanked by a window, and to the right of the projecting bay there is a doorway flanked by inserted windows. The south-west gable is largely blind with the exception of an inserted ground-floor window and a doorway partly blocked to form a window. The rear north-west elevation has a centrally placed entrance with a pentice roof, fitted with wooden, wide boarded double doors and there is an entrance to the left under a timber lintel.

Attached to the north-east gable of the bank barn there is a two-storey, single bay building with a hipped roof; the hipped roof is a later modification and traces of the original, higher pitched roof are visible on the north-east gable of the bank barn. The south-east elevation of this building has a ground-floor entrance and a single window beneath a continuous slate drip mould, and there is a single first-floor window. Attached to its rear there is an open-fronted building thought to be a cartshed.

The former wash house is situated to the south-west of the bank barn and is a small rectangular building built into the rising ground, with a pitched roof and a prominent chimney stack to its west end; there is a modified entrance and window to the east gable.

Interior: the ground floor of the bank barn retains its original subdivision into three compartments, formerly comprising cow house, stable and possible cartshed. The stable retains a pair of stalls with an orthostatic subdividing wall. The interior of the south-east projecting bay is accessed by a pair of original entrances from the main body of the barn into a space subdivided by a similar orthostatic wall into a pair of stalls. Original substantial timber beams support the first floor above. The first floor of the barn comprises a large open space and it retains a wooden threshing floor; there are a pair of drop feeders to the right of the main entrance into which feed was pored to reach the stable below. The four pegged trusses of the original roof structure remain in place, as do the double purlins, with only a few replacements.

Within the attached north-east building the ground floor retains evidence of minor industrial activity in the form of curvilinear alcoves and a number of narrow rectangular openings or shelves within the thickness of the rear wall; a projecting stone construction is interpreted as the truncated remains of a possible forge structure. It is possible that this building operated as a small smithy. The upper floor of this building comprises a single open space and the remodelled hipped roof structure has utilised members of the original pitched roof structure.

The interior of the washroom has been modified by its later use as a dairy with the removal of the boiler and the insertion of a slate shelf.

History

This bank barn is considered to be C18 in date; it is first depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map of the area published in 1860, and has the same footprint on all later editions to the present day. The smaller building attached to the north gable is probably later in date, and its internal arrangements suggest that it operated as a small blacksmith's workshop. Attached to the west wall of the latter is an open fronted building which probably served as a cartshed. A detached rectangular building is understood to be a wash house, later converted to a small diary.

Reasons for Listing

Lane Foot Farm bank barn of C18 date, attached possible smithy and cartshed and detached former wash house are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: dating from before 1750, this bank barn sits firmly in the period when there is a presumption that all buildings that are generally intact will be listed;
* Significant early fabric: a largely unaltered bank barn in the local vernacular that retains its original pegged roof structure and the survival of most original stone wall fabric, pierced by original openings;
* Group value: it has clear group value with more than twenty listed domestic and agricultural buildings in Troutbeck, several in the higher grades;
* Regional diversity and character: a farm building type, characteristic of Cumbria that reflects regional diversity and character and illustrates the diversity of past farming practice in England.

External Links

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