Abattoir At The Old Butcher'S Shop

The former abattoir at the Old Butcher's Shop in Morton on the Hill dates from the early 18th century, with some 19th-century additions. It is constructed of red brick, partly featuring a plinth, and has a pantile roof with coped gables and kneelers, as well as a catslide at the rear. A short brick stack is located on the front roof slope. The building is single storey and has a layout that includes the abattoir on the left, a preparation room on the right, and outbuildings, including a carthorse stable at the rear. A former shop or storage area projects from the rear left gable wall.

The front of the building has a door to the left with a louvred overlight above and a louvred window to the right. There is a stack positioned to the centre left, accompanied by a buttress in front. A wider door is located to the right, with another buttress beyond it. The left end features a louvred opening and a casement window in the gable, along with a door in the former shop wall and a casement in the end wall. The right main gable end contains various blocked openings and a window for the outbuilding beneath the catslide. The rear has three doors and a low blocked pig or kennel hole at the far left.

Inside, the abattoir retains a very complete interior, including a wooden carcass-lifting frame with notched sides, a pulley wheel on a heavy winding shaft supported by a tie beam, and a wood and metal winch, which is said to have been made in Kerdiston many years ago. The preparation room has a pig-scalding oven or hotplate and shows signs of a former chimney, indicating it may have originally served as a brew-house or forge. Both sections of the building feature a tie beam truss roof. The stable retains mangers and a rack, while the shop area has rows of hooks and a close-boarded and plastered interior.

Historically, this 19th-century rural abattoir was used for the Morton Hall estate until the 1920s, and it has remained largely unaltered since then. It is considered a fine example of a very unusual building type.