Barn Low Park

Barn, Low Park

This barn, dating to the early-to-mid 19th century, was built as an eyecatcher within the designed landscape of the St Ives Estate. It was originally developed by Walker Ferrand between 1803 and 1837, though its use as a deliberate landscape feature may relate to William Ferrand's mid-19th-century development of this part of the estate as a park.

The barn is constructed of coursed shaped sandstone blocks with stone dressings to the openings and a dressed stone plinth to the front. A string course runs along the front and sides at first floor level. The roof is covered with stone slates, though these only partially survive.

The building is a single rectangular structure with the partial stub of a former internal dividing wall extending from the rear. Sockets in the walls indicate the former support of a first floor.

The main south elevation features an oversized doorway at either end, with two oversized window openings between them. All openings have plain stone dressings but contain no actual doors or windows. At first floor level, a wide stone plat band spans the elevation, with four smaller square blind windows above it. The design creates the visual impression of two cottages when viewed from a distance. The east return (right side) continues the plat band and retains the remains of a first floor window opening towards the front, though the upper level is ruinous. The west return (left side) also has the plat band and a single window high in the gable end. The rear wall is plain. Due to the slope of the ground to the south, the rear elevation is considerably lower than the front. The roof survives only partially, with stone slates remaining at the west end but almost entirely missing at the eastern end, where the tops of the walls are also damaged.

The interior is a single open space with evidence of alterations. The blind first floor windows to the front do not penetrate the interior, though some of the lower openings have wooden lintels. Blocked doorways exist in each gable end towards the front, and a wooden lintel towards the rear of the west side indicates a further opening. A small stub of masonry extending from the rear wall marks a former partition wall. A line of socket holes at first floor level along the rear wall indicates where a former first floor was supported. The surviving roof timbers are queen strut trusses with no collar.

A building on this site is shown on estate maps of 1817 and 1819. A field boundary extending from the front of the barn to the south-east was present in 1819 but had been removed by 1865, which opened up views from the valley below. Modern maps show this boundary has since been reinstated.

The barn is situated on the southern side of Cuckoos Nest Wood, overlooking a parkland area identified as Low Park in the mid-to-late 19th century. The land slopes down to the Harden Beck, beyond which it rises again.