L-Shaped Range Of Farmbuildings Now Forming Part Of Parks Department Depot

This is a mid-18th century range of farm buildings, with 19th and 20th century alterations, now forming part of a Parks Department depot. The buildings are shown on Ordnance Survey maps as Old Hall Farm. They comprise a barn, a longer range incorporating a dovecote and a former house, now used as storage and staff rooms. The buildings are constructed of coursed, dressed sandstone, originally with pantile roofs, now a mix of corrugated iron and coated Welsh slate.

The L-shaped layout consists of a barn range and an attached range. The barn range has large quoins, and its courtyard facade features three large segmental-arched openings with bonded surrounds and projecting keystones. The left arch has been infilled with garage doors, while the right arch provides access to the rear. Two rows of ashlar-dressed beathers, flanked by brick infill, are positioned in front of the central opening. Shaped kneelers with ashlar copings are present on the left gable.

The attached range has a large cart entry flanked by ashlar-dressed beathers, with two large 19th-century glazing bar windows to its left, some of which are partially blocked. A plank door has been inserted into what was formerly a dairy. The taller dovecote section to the left of centre has a two-light, flush ashlar mullioned window on the ground floor with louvres; a similar first-floor window without a mullion; and a corbelled ledge beneath a Venetian window with a bricked-up central light flanked by louvred lights. The dovecote has a hipped roof and tabling to the side walls. The right part of this range features a broad doorway with a flush ashlar surround and a plank door, followed by a single two-light mullion window (now bricked up), then an inserted doorway, and a further two-light casement window. Above are a further door in an ashlar surround, an altered two-light casement, an inserted doorway, another two-light window, and a four-light mullion window with the right-hand lights blocked.

The rear of the barn range has a single segment-headed opening with two rows of ashlar beathers and a single bricked-up window to the left. Above are six openings with plank doors, and a blocked segment arched doorway. The rear of the attached range features a central, three-storey dovecote with a loft door and plank door. There are two bricked-up doorways to the right, along with bricked-up breathers and three upper loft doors. The left side of the attached range has breathers and four upper loft doorways, all now bricked up. A projecting gabled wing at the end features a raised gable with kneelers, a single doorway, and a flanking window to the left.

The interior of the barn range retains pattern-book king-post roof trusses. The dovecote has brick nesting holes. The interior of the former house has been altered.