Stables, barns and other farm buildings at Merryhill Farm

Inserted doors and windows in the south elevation of the stable.

All ground floors were of brick sets and, in the central section of the building, were angled down to a central east-west running drain.

The south elevation of the stable originally had five doors, three of which were stable doors opening onto the fold yard. Six windows rested on the stone plinth. The window of the store room, at the east of the building is of a different form, being above the stone plinth and narrower and taller.

At the time of the survey the stables were undergoing renovation. The internal wooden frames of the stable and the rafters from the roof were all cleaned using a sandblaster. The truss and roof detail above and left show cleaned timbers.

An example of one of the truss frames from the stable. The two main posts are attached to the wall plates with mortice and tenon joints. The collar was attached to the principle rafters with a motice and tenon joint while the purlins have been trenched into principle rafters.

The cattle shed was brick built with timber framing and a central brick wall that ran down the spine of the building separating an east and west side. It was orientated north-south and attached to the north of the barn. A recent concrete floor overlay an earlier cobbled surface.

The west side of the cattle shed was occupied by 6 pens with doors that opened west into a yard. The pens were constructed of wood on a small brick foundation wall and ran east-west.

A feeding passage ran north-south down the central brick wall, with an inserted door (tied-in with brick) in the north gable end of the building.

The north end, west elevation of the Cattle Shed. A stone support can be seen on the wall in the right of the picture, and a stone pad for the timber posts.

The earlier barn was constructed of red brick on a stone plinth foundation and had an internal timber frame. The barn was orientated east-west with the east gable end fronting the road. A later edition was added to the west of the original barn to accommodate industrialised farm machinery. A scar on the south of the later barn suggests a north-south building was once attached, possible to house an industrial engine.

The circular ‘Owl hole’ would have would have allowed easy access and nesting opportunities for birds acting as pest control within the barn.

The largest building in most farmyards was the barn which was used for the process and storage of corn. The entrance needed to be large enough to admit a high loaded wagon that was usually unloaded into bays either side of the door. These bays, to prevent the crop from becoming mouldy needed good ventilation. Ventilation holes are a common feature of stone and brick barns and come in a variety of forms. Vertical slots in the original barn would have allowed air to circulate within the storage bays.

Floor surfaces of stone, brick and earth were recorded in the barns. The through-entry was of stone flags with rooms either side having brick sets. The west end of the original barn building had, at the east end, approx. 5m. of brick set flooring leading onto a compact earth floor. On the north wall of the building has a hayrack and manger for the feeding of animals.

Threshing floors can be made from different materials. In two storey barns thick oak planks were used. For the ground floor threshing, brick, earth or clay, stone flags and cobbles can be used. Threshing floors were usually situated in the centre of the barn, in the through-entry

Brick set flooring within the eastern barn

The threshing barn has an inserted upper floor that is supported by four iron guiders that run north-south across the building. The upper floor of the east room, separated from the threshing barn by an internal brick wall, had an entrance and stairway from the fold yard, was probably used as a storage bay. A doorway opening inwards from the east end gable would have been for unloading/loading goods to carts parked on the road. The upper floor of the west and east rooms either side of the through-way, would have loaded carts parked below.

The exterior, west gable end, of the original threshing barn. The elevation was recorded from within the later west barn.  The inserted floor in the original threshing barn can be seen through the doorway.

The A-frame truss has three posts between the tie-beam and the collar and two supports above the collar that are jointed to the rafters by mortice and tenor. Four purlins are trenched into the rafters and a thin central purlin runs down the ridge. Planks have been added to the west of the frame, probably when the later barn was added. The two main posts have been partly covered by brick infill. The top of the tie-beam was grooved and stave holes were in the rafters and the underside of the collar.

Tie beam lap dovetail assembly. Construction detail of the tie beam, post and wall plate.

Builder’s construction marks were present on the timbers in Roman Numerals. The north tie-beam and principle rafter was marked I, and the south tie-beam and rafter, II. The three post and tie-beam were also marked, from north to south, I, II and III.

The west barn had a through-way similar to that of the original barn and would have been used for a similar purpose. However, the barn would have been industrialized with a probable steam engine housed in a building that would have been attached to the south of the building.  The chaff cutter (Plate 12) is on the second floor of the room to the east of the trough-way and at the east end of the barn. The ground floor is stone flagged, but the through-way and room to the west is concrete.

The west room of the barn would have been for the storage of grain, suggested by the ventilation holes in the north, south and gable end brick walls. The ventilation holes are cross shaped with two in the north and south walls and three in the west end wall.

Shafting for the drive wheel (see below). The machine to the right is a Bomford & Son’s “Safety” chaff cuter of late 19^th century design. The shafting and drive wheel suggests that there was provision for a steam engine to power the chaff cutter, and possibly others, such as a root slicer or corn grinding mill.

A scar on the south elevation  suggests a north-south building was at some stage attached to the standing building and would have housed a steam engine that powered farm machinery. A late 19^th century date for this industrialized area of the farm is suggested by the spot date of the chaff cutting machine.

Inside the building scar from the north-south building is an area of inserted bricks within the stone plinth.  Within this scar is a window, between the height of the stone plinth and the bricks.

This building scar is the scar of a building that was possible a smaller version the standing Cattle Shed. No evidence of the foundations of the former building was observed in the survey but the stone support (see above) in the north elevation was identical to supports used in the cattle shed. Two cattle sheds would have not only housed more stock, but with a central yard between the sheds, would have made the gathering and storing of manure, possible in a shed or a dung-pit, more efficient.

This building may have been knocked down in the final (third) phase of alterations to the farmyard complex.

Roof and Truss detail in the later western barn. Truss G-H can be seen in the background, as can the top feeder and tubes from the chaff cutting machine. The in-filled brick door of the through-way can be seen of the left.

Truss G-H is the west gable end of the original barn and has a doorway through the brick wall on the upper floor. The later west barn had four simple A-frame trusses.