Group Of Farm Buildings Including Range Of Stabling With Attached Cattle Shed, Dung Pit And Bank With Attached Cart Shed About 20M West Of Crowndale

A group of mid-19th century farm buildings, with an addition to the cart shed dated 1885, located about 20 metres west of Crowndale. The buildings are constructed of granite and slatestone rubble with slate roofs. The arrangement comprises a stable range to the west connected to a cattle shed to the east, a barn to the south, and a cart shed to the north, all enclosing a farmyard. A triangular dung pit is situated in the centre of the yard.

The stable range features a two-storey central gable-ended bay with a central door and upper loading door, both with splayed stone heads. To either side is a five-bay, single-storey range, each with five doors. An L-shaped extension to the front right includes a door and upper door under the eaves; a grindstone is set into the front wall. Further to the right is a six-bay open-fronted cattle shed with granite piers, infilled with rubble and with a corrugated iron roof, though the end wall has collapsed.

The barn has a gable to the front left, featuring a cart entry with a stone segmental head and a loading door above with a granite cill and lintel, along with a small blocked opening. The barn’s right side has a ground-floor door and two windows, and seven ventilation slits under the eaves. Attached to the front left, in an L-plan, is a ten-bay open-fronted cart shed, with two central bays closed, and bays to the right and left supported by square granite piers. Brick repairs to the quoins and gable end are visible, marked with the date 1885. The gable end of the barn to the right has three lower and one upper ventilation slit. The rear of the barn, at a higher ground level, includes a rear wing with ventilation slits and an outshut to the left.

The interiors, which are inaccessible, are reportedly characterised by crown post roofs throughout. The triangular-shaped dung pit is built on a slope with rubble walls and granite copings, varying in height from approximately 1.5 metres on the lower side to 5 metres on the upper side, and measuring approximately 15 metres east-to-west and 35 metres north-to-south, with three gate openings at the upper level and one gateway at the lower end, defined by plain granite piers. This farmstead, with its open dung pit, provides a contrast with the more sophisticated arrangement at Kilworthy House (another property within the Duke of Bedford's Estate), where the cattle sheds are built over the dung pit.