Farm outbuilding comprising former barn, cowhouse and stables to the south west of Barlow Woodseats Hall

Farm outbuilding comprising former barn, cowhouse and stables to the south west of Barlow Woodseats Hall

The outbuilding range at Barlow Woodseats Hall is a multi-period, multi-purpose vernacular building complex with evidence of structural timber framing in its earliest section, followed by alteration and enlargement in stone masonry from the 17th century onwards. The main range incorporates a barn and cattle standings, part of which was later adapted to form a cart lodge. The smaller attached range at the north-west end was originally built as a stable with overlofts and was later adapted for housing cattle.

Materials and construction

The building is constructed of Coal Measures sandstone in both coursed rubble and squared coursed work, with quoined corners and ashlar dressings to door and window openings. Much of the masonry rises from a roughly-formed stone plinth. The roof covering is of stone slate, laid to diminishing courses.

Plan and setting

The building is L-shaped on plan. The stable range forms the north-west wing, with the longer barn and cowhouse range extending south-eastwards to enclose the western side of a rectangular farmyard bounded on its north-east side by the garden walls of the adjacent Barlow Woodseats Hall.

Exterior

The barn and cowhouse range is ten bays in length and is lofted at the south-east and north-west ends, above the cowhouse and beyond the open barn section. The north-east and south-west elevations incorporate two tiers of slit breathers with substantial stone surrounds, appearing to be original features. They extend the full length of the south-west side wall, including the gable end of the stables section. On the north-east side wall, they survive in the south-eastern half of the elevation but have been replaced in the north-west end by oculi at loft level and by cowhouse doorways and cart openings at ground floor level. Breathers are also found in the south-east gable end of the first bay, which now has an inserted loft doorway accessed by a flight of stone steps. A raised metal tank obscures a number of the original openings.

Bays one to five on the north-east side are formed from thin courses of stone rubble, with regular squared courses used in bays six to eight and squared courses of random widths used in bays nine and ten. These varied masonry details, together with changes to roof carpentry, appear to represent incremental phases of alteration from the 17th to the 19th century, possibly reflecting changes in farming practice and building usage. Door openings occur at bays three and five, the latter originally the threshing bay, with opposed full-height double doorways. The quoined opening on the north-east side has been infilled and now incorporates a raised doorway and flight of steps. Bays six to ten represent stages of remodelling, with bays six to eight having three wide cowhouse doorways with chamfered quoins and deep lintels below ashlar oculi to the lofts above. Bays nine and ten appear to have been earlier cart lodges, subsequently remodelled and partially infilled to provide additional cattle standings, but retaining the quoining to the outer jambs of original openings.

The south-west elevation has been similarly altered, with the walling of bays one to six formed from thin courses of rubble stonework, whilst the remaining section, including the south-west gable of the stable, is faced with coursed squared masonry. There are three door openings including the original entrance, which has quoined corners and a timber lintel incorporating hinge sockets for harr-hung doors. A wide single doorway exists at bay two and a full-height door to the loft level of bay seven, together with a number of inserted openings at ground floor level. The stable end wall has a 17th-century opening within the apex, set immediately below a blocked opening of similar proportions. Slit breather detailing, similar to that on the north-east elevation though interrupted by inserted openings, extends throughout the length of the south-west elevation, including the stable gable.

The stable section is connected to the barn and cowhouse range at an acute angle, possibly to ensure that its outward-facing north-east elevation could be seen in the same plane as the entrance front to the Hall. The gable has moulded kneelers and copings, and its west corner has long ashlar quoins. The north-east elevation to the stable has a pair of 17th-century single-light windows to the upper floor and a small oculus to each end bay. The north-east gable has a coped gable, moulded kneelers and two single-light 17th-century windows below drip mouldings to the upper floor. The south-east elevation is near-symmetrical, with a central doorway flanked by stacked window openings, originally of two-light chamfer-mullioned form with drip moulds, to both floors. Between the upper floor windows is a glazed oculus. The wide central doorway has a four-centred arched lintel and drip mould. The ground floor windows have lost their mullions, and the openings to the right of the doorway have been enlarged to form a door opening with an additional inserted window opening further right. The upper level of the stables is accessed by means of a flight of stone steps built in the inner junction of the two sections of the outbuilding range, possibly replacing an internal stair which may have been removed when the stables were converted to provide additional cattle standings.

Interiors

The principal features of the interiors are the roof structures, which vary in form as a result of the incremental alteration and remodelling of the building. The south-east half of the long range incorporates four substantial cruck trusses. The trusses define bays three, four and five, bay four having originally been a threshing bay. The trusses have tie and collar beams and support single side purlins and a diagonally-set ridge purlin. The trusses flanking bay four are open, whilst the other remaining two were formerly closed, as evidenced by empty housings for studs in the soffits of tie and collar beams. Three of the trusses have straight bearers on the backs of the cruck blades set in the same plane as the rafters. The purlins were originally wind-braced, the threshing bay retaining curved braces, whilst bay three has straight braces. Bays one and two have inserted lofts and partitioning, but the truss between bays one and two appears to be of modified cruck form, with curved wind braces.

Bays six to ten have tie beam trusses with collar beams, straight wind braces supporting single or double purlins and diagonally-set ridge purlins notched into the truss apexes. The roof to the stable section is of similar form with collar and tie beam trusses with mainly single side purlins and a diagonal ridge purlin. The junction of the long range and the stables created an irregularly-shaped south-west bay to the stable which is open to a roof structure without a truss but supported by a number of beams and posts.

Bays six to ten of the long range, and the interior of most of the stables were last used for cattle and retain 20th-century standings and stalling. The interior of bays six to eight includes a rear feed passage with a manger partition set above brick walling with feeding apertures. The loft floors are supported by heavy chamfered bridging beams and closely-spaced joists. The upper floor of the stable has a blocked hearth and plastered walls, which may indicate a former use as grooms' accommodation.