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Home Farm Buildings, Tyntesfield Park

A planned farmstead and estate workshops built in 1881 for the Gibbs family (later Lord Wraxall) of Tyntesfield. The complex is constructed of pink local stone with limestone door and window dressings, with modern tile roofs replacing the original slate.

The buildings are arranged on two levels, divided by a long two-storey feed store and mixing mill that separates the upper estate yard from the lower covered yards arranged around a central midden.

The upper estate yard to the north contains a range of open sheds along the east side, with feeding racks indicating use for stock housing. A chimney in the north gable marks the structure, though its precise function is unclear as the interior was not inspected. The western range comprises an open timber store and workshop. Access to the yard is provided between two single-storey storage buildings along the north side and at the south end of the west range.

The feed store and mixing mill is a long building gabled at both east and west ends. At ground floor level in the upper yard, three full-height double sliding doors open onto the yard, with a separate mess room at the east end entered through a north-facing door and lit by a single window. The main part has a stone floor with shafting running its length, originally connected through the west gable to a steam engine (now gone) that powered feed preparation machinery. Feed was then moved to stores below through shoots in the floor. The first floor is supported on eight wide arches running the length of the building, dividing the lower stores. The lower level comprises a series of feed stores entered through doors opening south into the covered yards. The west end was most recently used for a bulk milk tank, whilst at the east end is a small vaulted feed or root store behind former piggeries.

The covered yards abut the feed store to the north and face south under five gables, with two further gables to the west fronting a slaughter house and an originally open-fronted building under a stone arch. The western buildings extend northwards only about a third of the depth of the covered yards.

The main covered yard area behind the five central gables runs the length of the feed store. The two western gables front the cow standings, originally arranged in two rows with a feeding passage behind. The western row contains five cast-iron stalls by Musgrove of London and Belfast at the north end, with originally a calf stall to the south since replaced by three further cow standings. The eastern row was replaced by tubular steel stalls in the 1930s. The floor is modern concrete with a roof of two rows of six king-post trusses with diagonal boarding above. The valley between the two gables is supported on six cast-iron pillars made by Gardiners of Bristol. The building is entered through a single-width door in the western gable and is lit by 4-light mullion windows under each of the two gables, with decorative round windows in the gables above under shallow canopies.

The central, slightly wider gable fronted the midden. Double doors open south with a decorative round window under a shallow canopy above and a square base for a decorative cupola or weather vane at the gable apex. Inside, a cobbled way slopes down into a midden surrounded by a curbed channel and walkway. The midden does not run the full depth of the building and is surrounded to the north and west by a modern wall. Originally it would have been open to the rest of the cow house. The valleys between the gables are supported by four cast-iron Gardiner's pillars down each side. Along the north end are five Musgrove cow stalls, with the roof supported by wide-span trusses.

The two eastern gables front what were originally the calf-houses and piggeries. The piggeries have been removed and calf stalls extended throughout, comprising wooden boxes topped by cast-iron railings. A row of six cast-iron Gardiner's pillars runs the length of the building under the valley. The roof matches that at the west end, except that ventilation louvres in the roof were part of the original design. Six-, two- and three-light mullion windows run the length of the east wall. The building is entered from the south through a door at the east end of the east gable, with 4-light stone mullion windows in the gables featuring decorative round windows under shallow canopies above.

To the south stands a bacon curing house and the foundations of an octagonal dairy, indicating that this was primarily a dairy farm where a prize herd of Alderney cows was kept, with by-products of the dairy fed to pigs.

This is an unusually fine example of a Victorian planned farmstead with covered yard, combining all main operations under one roof.