Ferniehurst Farm

Ferniehurst Farm is a small model farm built in the 1860s or 1870s as part of Edward Salt's Ferniehurst estate. It is constructed of coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings and has slate roofs laid in diminishing courses. Most of the buildings are single-storey.

Plan and Layout

The farm has an L-shaped plan set at an angle. The longest range runs north-east to south-west, with a return range attached to the south-west end running north-west to south-east that includes the farmhouse. A detached pig and cattle pen (now covered) and a piggery stand in the centre of the yard to the east, which is partly laid with stone setts. A detached former open shed, now used as a cow byre, is located to the west of the main farm buildings.

Windows

The farm buildings retain original timber fixed-pane, casement and ventilator windows. However, the farmhouse has lost its original sashes, which have been replaced by uPVC casements (the uPVC windows are not of special interest).

North-East to South-West Range

Yard (South-East) Elevation

The prominent feature of this range's yard-facing elevation is a two-and-a-half-storey single-bay feedhouse that projects slightly forward into the yard beneath a gable. It has a doorway at ground floor level, a taking-in door at first floor, and a gableted pigeon loft entrance (partially blocked) above with shaped bargeboards. A short chimneystack rises from the north-east side of the roof.

The feedhouse is flanked by two single-storey mistles (cattle sheds) accessed through split stable-style doors. The mistle to the right leads first into a former stable that connects through to the mistle. The mistle to the left, at the south-west end, occupies the junction of the two ranges and has windows on the rear elevation.

The right-hand (north-east) mistle is believed to have originally been a cart shed or store. The front yard-facing wall appears to have originally been an open entrance but is now infilled with two 12-pane ventilator windows. The stonework of the infilled opening and the style of the windows suggest this was done early on, probably in the late 19th century.

The north-eastern half of the range comprises three stables and a cart shed (now used as a garage or workshop), accessed through a large opening with timber double doors. The stables have split doors and large windows with ventilator casements. The north-east gable end has an unglazed trefoil window with a dressed surround set at the gable apex.

Rear (North-West) Elevation

A few slates have been removed from the roof and very small skylights created. The north-eastern end of this elevation has no windows. A four-pane window lights one of the stables, and to the right are three small pointed-arched windows with hoodmoulds set low down near the base of the wall (lighting the former cart shed or store, now a mistle) with a multipaned half-dormer window above, also with a hoodmould. The ridge line above the mistle has partially sunk or collapsed.

To the right is a tall window with replaced glazing lighting the former stable that leads through into the north-eastern mistle. The two-and-a-half-storey feedhouse does not project forward on this side. It has a large cross window at ground floor with leaded and stained glass in the upper lights, a slightly smaller window above with a timber boarded cover, and a multipaned pointed-arched window to the pigeon loft with a hoodmould above.

The two-bay mistle to the right (south-west end) has large windows with replaced glazing. The south-west gable end has a blocked-up window with a pointed-arched head at the gable apex. A doorway at ground-floor level to the right, accessing the mistle, has a ledged and braced door and an overlight above. A mid to late 20th-century sandstone, timber and corrugated-metal hay barn attached to part of the south-west gable end is excluded from the listing.

North-West to South-East Range

Yard (North-East) Elevation

This range has a store at the north-west end, which is open on the north-east side facing into the yard. To the left of the store, the eaves line is lower and projects beyond the wall face forming a verandah supported by replaced timber piers.

Adjacent to the store is a four-panel door with an overlight and a large six-pane window providing access and light into a room that was possibly originally a bacon curing room. A mirror-image doorway and window to the left originally led into the dairy, but the doorway has been blocked up, the window replaced in uPVC, and the dairy has been absorbed internally into the farmhouse. A simple ventilator exists on the ridge.

The farmhouse occupies the south-eastern end of the range and has a small late 20th-century gabled and enclosed porch (not of special interest) added onto the verandah. The original four-panel main entrance door survives within the porch, flanked by two windows. All the farmhouse's original sash windows have been removed and replaced by uPVC windows, which are not of special interest. Two ridge stacks mark the original extent of the farmhouse before the dairy was absorbed.

Rear (South-West) Elevation

This elevation has two windows of differing sizes lighting a small room at the rear of the open store and the adjacent bacon-curing room respectively. The window of the former dairy to the right has replaced uPVC glazing as it now forms part of the farmhouse. The stumps of wrought-iron bars are visible on the window sills of the dairy and bacon-curing room. These are believed to have been installed during the Second World War to prevent black market theft, as pigs were killed on the site, and were removed after the war.

The farmhouse projects slightly to the rear beneath a catslide roof with two small windows in the south-west wall and a further window in the north-west return. The south-east gable end has overhanging eaves, a window to the left of centre, and a doorway to the far left with a late 20th-century enclosed porch (not of special interest) attached in front.

Yard Structures

Pig and Cattle Pen

To the east of the main farm buildings, set within the yard, is an outdoor pig and cattle pen (used as a midden in the early to mid 20th century) with low sandstone walls on three sides with canted and quoined corners and carved ashlar copings with chamfered edges. The walls are surmounted by a low cast-iron balustrade with thick shaped balusters. A panelled cast-iron drinking trough is built into the north-west side of the wall.

The pen probably originally had a gate at the south-west end, which has since been removed. A small central section of the north-east end wall and the balustrade above have been removed (presumably to create an additional entrance at some point) and then infilled again. A circa 1970s breezeblock sub-structure, which is not of special interest, has also been added on top of the walls to create an enclosed cattle shed with a pitched corrugated-metal roof.

Piggery

A long single-storey former piggery with a catslide roof and a short central ridge stack forms the south-east side of the pen. The piggery's north-east gable end has stonework laid in diminishing courses and two large openings with timber lintels; the opening to the left has a shouldered head, whilst that to the right is a later insertion. A triangular-shaped ventilator exists at the gable apex.

The piggery's south-east wall projects outwards slightly beneath a catslide roof and retains doorways and windows towards the south-western end, accessing stores and an outside toilet. A mid 20th-century open-sided lean-to structure, which is not of special interest, is attached to the piggery's south-east eaves. The piggery's south-west gable end has a wide doorway containing a plank and batten door.

The north-west wall is visible from within the covered pig and cattle pen and has two wide doorways with shouldered heads separated by boarded-over windows and blocked-up openings set low to the ground, which would have provided the pigs with access into the pen. The doorway towards the north-eastern end has been blocked up (the stonework suggests this was done early on, probably in the late 19th century) whilst that towards the south-western end retains a plank and batten door.

Former Open Shed

Located to the west of the main farm buildings is a former open shed with quoining to the corners, now used as a cow byre or shed. The shed was originally open on the south-east side and supported by a central cast-iron column, which still survives. The lower sections of the two openings have been infilled and the upper sections covered with corrugated-metal cladding. A mid 20th-century opening has been inserted in the north-east gable end; the original narrow ventilator slot survives above. The main part of the shed retains its original slate roof coverings, but a short kick-back section at the western end of the building, which provides direct access into the fields, has a replaced corrugated-metal roof covering.

Interior

The farm buildings have brick internal walls (some whitewashed) and retain their original roof structures. The remains of gas light fittings and pipes also exist in some of the buildings.

North-East to South-West Range

The stables in this range have rubbed-brick edges to the door jambs that would have prevented the animals from being grazed as they entered and left the stables. The original stall divisions and wall-mounted feeders survive, along with quarry-tiled drinking troughs, cast-iron tethering rings, and stone-sett and concrete floors. An inter-connecting doorway with a four-panel door survives between one of the stables and the cart shed (now a garage or workshop), whilst another between two of the stables has been blocked up. The cart shed has a stone-sett floor.

The feedhouse was possibly originally a tack room or farm hand's room on the ground floor with a poultry floor above and a pigeon loft at the top of the building (the pigeon coop has since been removed). A stone-flag floor exists on the ground floor and a steep timber stair provides access up to the poultry floor, which also provides access into the hay lofts on each side above the mistles. A late 20th-century breezeblock under-stair storage area, which is not of special interest, has been added. Inter-connecting doorways with ledged and braced doors exist between the feedhouse and the mistles on each side.

The north-east mistle contains mid 20th-century cattle stalls and feeders, which are not of special interest. However, the south-west mistle contains original shaped cast-iron cattle stalls and cast-iron feeders. Slender cast-iron columns have been used to form bays within the stalls, and each stall has original twin drinking troughs. The mistle has a stone-sett floor incorporating a wide drainage channel.

North-West to South-East Range

Internally, the bacon-curing room has a suspended timber floor and a cast-iron rack structure fixed at ceiling height that was possibly used to hang the hams from. A four-panel door in the west corner provides access into a small room located behind the open store. The farmhouse interior has been heavily altered and is not of special interest. An internal opening has been knocked through to connect the farmhouse into the former dairy, which has been converted into a bedroom and a bathroom, and its altered interior is also not of special interest.

Yard Structures

The pig and cattle pen contains late 20th-century stalls, which are not of special interest. The piggery retains its original roof structure composed of common and collar rafters. A single large space along the north-western side runs the near-full length of the building and has a quarry-tile lined feeding and drinking trough at the south-west end. A drainage channel also runs the length of the space. The south-eastern side of the building is split into a number of smaller spaces and rooms, including an outdoor toilet that originally served the farmhouse.

Former Open Shed

The original roof structure composed of common and collar rafters and a tie beam supporting a side purlin on the south-east side survives. Mid 20th-century cattle feeders, which are not of special interest, have been installed along the south-east side.

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Pursuant to section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, it is declared that the following features are not of special architectural or historic interest: the uPVC windows to the farmhouse; the small late 20th-century gabled and enclosed porch to the north-east elevation of the farmhouse; the late 20th-century enclosed porch to the south-east gable end; the mid to late 20th-century hay barn attached to the south-west gable end of the north-east to south-west range; the circa 1970s breezeblock sub-structure on the pig and cattle pen; the mid 20th-century open-sided lean-to structure attached to the piggery; the late 20th-century breezeblock under-stair storage area in the feedhouse; the mid 20th-century cattle stalls and feeders in the north-east mistle; the late 20th-century stalls in the pig and cattle pen; the heavily altered farmhouse interior; the converted former dairy interior; and the mid 20th-century cattle feeders in the former open shed.