Highfield Farm

Highfield Farm is a planned farm complex consisting of a farmhouse, stable, hayloft and granary range, threshing barn and cowhouse, cowhouse and hayloft range, cart shed, granary and pigeon loft range. Dating from circa 1750 to 1773-4, with later additions from circa 1800 to 1855, four of the buildings were constructed for the second Marquis of Rockingham, with one later building erected for the Fitzwilliam family.

Materials and Construction

The complex is built of sandstone with stone slate and Welsh slate roofs throughout.

Layout

The farm buildings are arranged around a small yard. A threshing barn and cowhouse stands on the north side. The west side features a range containing stables on the ground floor with hayloft and granary above. The east side has a range with cowhouses on the ground floor and hayloft over. The farmhouse occupies the south side, with two, possibly three, barrel-vaulted cellars beneath the rear service rooms. A later range containing cart sheds on the ground floor and granary and pigeon loft on the first floor abuts the south side of the east range.

Farmhouse

The farmhouse was built on the south side of the yard with its front elevation facing south toward the road. Originally two and a half storeys, it is now three bays and two storeys. Constructed of roughly coursed rubble stone, it features a plinth, quoins to the corners, a double-pitched roof with slates to the front and slates and stone slates to the rear, and two brick gable stacks.

The central doorway has a modern lean-to enclosed porch. To each side is a wide window with two two-light timber sashes and a central timber mullion. The monolithic stone lintels are wider than the present apertures. Toward the left and right corners are two blocked doorways: the left one has stone jambs with a monolithic stone lintel with curved corners to the door aperture, while the right one has stone jambs and a rectangular stone lintel, both blocked with coursed stonework.

On the first floor are two windows with two-light sashes, with a small central stair window between them, now blocked. Above the windows, the blocking for the two attic windows is visible.

To the rear is a lower two-storey wing to the left (west) side and a shorter single-storey dairy outshot to the right (east) side, with a modern first-floor brick extension. The corners feature quoining.

Cottage

Attached to the west side of the farmhouse and stepped slightly back is a single-bay cottage with a two-light sash window on each floor.

Stable, Hayloft and Granary Range

Built on the west side of the yard, this two-storey range is constructed of roughly coursed rubble stone with corner quoins. It has a double-pitched roof with corrugated asbestos sheeting to the front and stone slates to the rear.

The ground floor has, from the left: a blocked doorway, square window, wide doorway, square window (formerly a doorway), square window, wide doorway, blocked doorway, square window, and wide doorway. The apertures have monolithic stone lintels, while the blocked doorways have no lintels. The windows have multi-pane frames with bottom-hinged, inward-opening lower lights. The doorways have split stable doors.

On the first floor, from the left, is a taking-in door, a blocked square window, a second taking-in door, and a square window with multi-pane timber frame. There are also several blocked ventilation slits. A flight of external stone steps against the north gable wall leads up to a first-floor doorway and also gives access to the first floor of the adjacent threshing barn.

Threshing Barn and Cowhouse

This eight-bay barn is built on the north side of the yard of roughly coursed rubble stone with corner quoins and a double-pitched roof, now with concrete tiles. It features a first-floor doorway to the left and opposing wide rectangular threshing doorways set off-centre toward the left (west) end. The doorways have quoining to the jambs and timber lintels. Blocked ventilation slits are visible throughout.

The rear (north) elevation has a blocked ground-floor doorway to the left (east) end. At first-floor level, from the left, are a blocked square window, a square window partially obscured by a modern shed, the threshing doorway (partially infilled), and a blocked square window.

Cowhouse and Hayloft Range

Built on the east side of the yard, this two-storey range is constructed of roughly coursed rubble stone with corner quoins and a double-pitched roof of slates and stone slates.

The ground floor has, from the left: a former wide doorway with monolithic stone lintel, later partially blocked to form a window with vertical iron bars; a wide doorway with a double timber lintel; a square window; a doorway; and a second square window, all with monolithic stone lintels. The doorways have split stable doors, and the square windows have multi-pane frames with bottom-hinged, inward-opening lower lights.

On the first floor, from the left, are a taking-in door and two square windows with wooden shutters. The first floor is reached by a flight of stone steps against the south gable wall which were originally external but are now within the abutting cart shed building.

Cart Shed, Granary and Pigeon Loft

Built of coursed rubble stone with a double-pitched stone slate roof, this range has, from the left: a doorway with two shallow steps to the side, a stone lintel and plank door. Immediately beside it is a narrow inserted doorway with stone lintel. To the centre and right are two wide segmental-arched cart openings with ashlar voussoirs and a central square stone pier.

On the first floor, from the left, are two square windows, both with wooden frames with a row of fixed upper lights over vertical ventilation slats. To the right (south) end is a square aperture, now blocked with coursed stonework, with a wide projecting stone ledge below. A similar aperture with a projecting ledge is located at the apex of the south gable wall.

Interiors

Farmhouse

The farmhouse contains two main rooms separated by a central entrance hall with a stone cross wall to the east side and partition wall to the west side. To the rear are the kitchen and former dairy, now subdivided. There are three original first-floor rooms and a plastered-out attic room to the east side of the stone cross wall, which rises to the ridge post.

Beneath the service rooms are two, or probably three, barrel-vaulted stone cellars originally accessed by a flight of stone steps beneath the timber staircase, now reached by a flight of stone steps from the adjoining cottage.

Notable features include boxed-in cross beams in ground and first floor rooms, a central dog-leg staircase with half landings which rises to attic level featuring stick balusters and a moulded, ramped handrail (boxed-in up to first-floor level), several original doors with two equal fielded panels, and stone slab tables in the cellars. The roof structure is of hewn timber, with principal tie-beam trusses, wall plates, joists, tusk-tenoned purlins, and diamond ridge post. The wing has a similar ridge post, purlins and joists.

Stable, Hayloft and Granary Range

The ground floor contains three unevenly sized rooms with stone cross walls, with a hayloft and separate granary to the first floor. Notable features include two wall niches in the largest ground-floor room at the south end, and a granary with plastered walls at the north end of the first floor. The roof structure is of hewn timber with three original principal tie-beam trusses.

Threshing Barn and Cowhouse

The two western bays have a timber floor for a hayloft over, while the three eastern bays form a former cowhouse with timber floor over and a stone cross wall at the west end. Notable features include a stone flag threshing floor between the threshing doors, a brick set floor in the two western bays, and seven original hewn principal tie-beam trusses with stop-chamfered tie beams, tusk-tenoned purlins, joists, and diamond ridge post.

Cowhouse and Hayloft Range

The ground floor has two rooms separated by a stone cross wall, with a hayloft over featuring blocked ventilation slits. Notable features include several wall niches on the ground floor and three principal tie-beam trusses with tusk-tenoned purlins and diamond ridge post.

Cart Shed, Granary, and Pigeon Loft

This building contains a narrow bay with a stone cross wall to the north end housing the former external steps of the adjacent cowhouse and hayloft range, along with two interconnected cart bays. The first-floor granary has plastered walls, with the southern end originally partitioned to form a pigeon loft. Though the cross wall is now removed, notable features include nest boxes built of brick against the external walls. The roof has three machine-sawn king-post trusses with raking struts and iron bolts.

Historical Context

This farm complex first appears on William Fairbank's Township Map of Brampton Brierley, dated 1773-4, when it is shown with four buildings arranged around a yard. At this time the farm was tenanted to a William Tricket, who farmed 75 acres, and the landowner was the second Marquis of Rockingham. Rockingham, whose residence was the nearby Wentworth Woodhouse estate, was a particularly important landowner in the second half of the 18th century. Between 1750 and 1782 his estate became one of the most progressive in England, with many of his farms providing food for the workers in his collieries and other industrial enterprises.

The farmstead was planned and laid out according to the principles of Palladian villa-farms described in Palladio's 'Quattro Libri dell'Architectura', first published in English in 1720. The most important building was the threshing barn, placed on the north side of the yard to provide warmth and shelter to the south. On the east and west sides were the cattle sheds and stables, and the house was placed on the south side, its front typically facing away from the yard.

Highfield Farm is a small example of a planned farmstead. Many 18th-century commentators thought that building planned farmsteads to serve small acreages was not worth the investment, but Rockingham apparently disagreed, meaning this complex is of interest precisely because of its relative modesty. The cart shed, granary and pigeon loft was added to the yard in the first half of the 19th century.