Barns And Attached Outbuildings And Walls At Clipstone Farm

BARNS AND ATTACHED OUTBUILDINGS AND WALLS AT CLIPSTONE FARM

A range of farm buildings constructed for the Holkham Estate in the mid-to-late 18th and early-to-mid 19th centuries, known to be in existence by 1785. The complex comprises a barn, stable, cart shed with granary over, front yard wall, and shelter sheds with loose boxes. Built in brick with pantile roof coverings, the pantiles possibly replacing thatch on the earlier, steeply-pitched roofs of the barn and stable.

The buildings form an E-shaped range aligned east-west with an open side to the south. The barn, which consists of two mid-to-late 18th-century phases with an earlier section to the east, occupies the north side. The stable forms the west wing and is connected to the barn by a five-bay cart shed topped with a granary. The cart shed, which faces west and was described as "very old" in 1851, projects from this connection. The central and eastern wings comprise mid-19th-century shelter sheds, loose boxes, and a turnip house with hipped roofs.

The stable features an east-facing elevation overlooking a yard, with a central stable door set between two brick pilasters. Windows flank the doorway, and a pitching hole for hay once opened above. Vitrified headers are used decoratively in an irregular bond. The gables display tumbled brickwork with brick finials. A catslide roof covers a west outshot with a central doorway flanked by loose boxes leading through to the stable. A southern extension with a slightly lower roof may be the new chaise house with granary above recorded in 1806 building accounts. The gable features a pitching hole, below which are double doors and a window opening into a gig house. A later lean-to runs along the west wall.

The stable interior retains wooden panelling, hay racks, and a vertical ladder to a replaced loft floor, with stalling arrangements of 18th-century form. Lantern alcoves stand alongside the doorway. A three-bay roof with queen strut trusses supports massive through-purlins. The south end is subdivided to form a separate loft, accessed by external staircase, with a trap house below retaining tack pegs.

The cart house and granary to the north of the stable comprise five open bays on the west side supported by four wooden posts, with English bond brick on a wider plinth forming the other sides. A hanging wooden granary is approached by a staircase opening into the yard to the east. The granary interior shows some evidence of bins, and the five-bay roof features raking struts to principals and butt purlins.

The two barns making up the north range sit under the same roofline. The eastern barn is smaller and older, dating to the mid-18th century. The front south elevation contains two double doorways giving access to threshing floors, with lean-to loose boxes on either side opening into the yard. The west barn doorway has an asymmetrical porch between loose boxes, while the east doorway features an arched head enclosed by a marginally wider porch. The gables display tumbled brickwork matching that of the stable, together with randomly-spaced vitrified headers. Iron ties with ends forming the letters T.C. (Thomas Coke) decorate the east gable, indicating construction for the Holkham Estate. The north wall is largely enclosed by a 20th-century corrugated iron shed and retains only blocked breathers.

The barn interiors are subdivided by a central cross wall dividing the two barns. The eastern barn has a seven-bay roof with morticed collars and later raking struts, with two tiers of staggered purlins. The western barn has a similar roof but with six bays and more widely spaced structure.

The front yard wall, documented as built in 1806, is constructed of brick with later 19th-century alterations and coping. It curves from the western wing to link the fronts of the shelter sheds to the east, closing off the front south side of the yards.

The shelter sheds form the east side of the yard with an open-fronted west elevation. The southern end has a hipped roof with an altered end wall. A central range with hipped roof contains two loose boxes opening to the south. A boundary wall at the south end features feeding holes above water troughs within the yard.

The buildings represent a substantially complete pre-mid-19th-century Holkham estate farm, retaining significant early evidence for the housing and management of cattle. There is no recorded expenditure in the building accounts after 1814, when new bullock sheds (possibly including parts of the surviving shelter sheds) were constructed; the shelter sheds had been erected by 1850. The yard layout formed by the L-plan barn and stable ranges was probably enclosed on the east and south sides using temporary hurdles or wooden fencing.