Barn To South East Of Whey Curd Farmhouse

This is an 1803 field barn with an attached yard wall and feed store, located south east of Whey Curd Farmhouse. It was constructed for William Coke of Holkham, designed in the style of William Wyatt as part of the farm complex. The barn is built of red brick with a pantiled roof.

Originally a symmetrical arrangement, the complex comprised a central, north-facing barn connected by a curved yard wall extending south-eastwards to a pavilion-like feed store. A second yard wall previously linked to a matching store extends to the south-west.

The barn features a double doorway in its north wall with a brick arched head and a dated keystone of 1803. Blocked breather slits are located on either side of the doorway, and the eaves are dentilled. Kneelers and plain finials are present on the gables; the east gable has an owl hole and blocked breather, while the west gable has a rebuilt apex. The south wall has a hipped roof to a central porch and formerly had flanking lean-to structures, which have since been removed. The feed store has a pyramidal roof with a pitching hole at eaves level on its east side and a doorway in its north wall, previously providing covered access to adjacent shelter sheds, now also removed.

Inside the barn, the roof has seven bays with lapped, dovetailed collars and staggered butt purlins.

This complex demonstrates architectural details characteristic of the work of Samuel Wyatt for the Holkham Estate, who was designing for Thomas Coke at the time, similar to the Great Barn at Holkham. The original symmetry was altered in 1871 when a feed store was demolished and replaced with cattle sheds and shelter sheds, which are now ruinous. Field barns were important components of late 18th-century improved arable farming, allowing for crop processing and straw recycling near the fields, reducing the need to transport crops or manure across the farm.