Church Farm, Farm Buildings

The farm buildings at Church Farm date from the mid-19th century, with some elements being earlier. They are constructed of random rubble stone with larger quoins, and have slate roofs. The layout is a large U-plan, with one arm extended, and most of the buildings are single-storey.

To the left is a five-bay cartshed, with the first bay walled and containing double boarded doors set under a cambered stone arch. The remaining bays are open, with timber lintels on square piers, and a parapet gable at the front. Inside, the trusses are king-post design, held with iron bolts, a style consistent throughout much of the farmstead. This abuts an earlier five-bay barn, featuring central double boarded doors with a timber lintel, and five slit air vents on the left side, arranged in two rows. There are two to the right. A lean-to extension of no particular interest covers a blocked door and slit air vent. Inside the barn is a stone-paved threshing floor, originally with a low wall to the bays on the left, which has since been demolished. There is a loft; the end bay was walled off to create a harness room and feed store. The barn suffered a fire in the mid-to-late 19th century and was re-roofed with queen post trusses secured with iron bolts.

Beyond the barn is a passage with doors at each end and side, which leads to a five-bay stable and a single-bay loose box. Three original boarded sliding doors open onto the yard, and there are no windows, with light provided by glass slates in the roof, which is also present in the cowhouse. A cobbled causeway runs along the front of the yard, extending in front of the cowhouse. The cowhouse’s interior features a cobbled floor and a surviving hay rack. A water tank is positioned over the passage. A five-bay cowhouse is situated at a right angle to the barn, with a feed preparation room at each end; the one on the left has double doors to a rick-yard. There are two doors serving as stables onto the yard, and cast-iron grilles at low levels for ventilation in both front and back walls. The interior includes two doors to each end room, a feeding passage at the head of the cattle, with an original trough lined with clay tiles and timber edgings, and a timber rail with original stone slab stalls. A four-bay open-fronted shed has square stone piers for loose yard cattle, one bay of which has been built up and was later walled off as a slaughter house. This abuts an earlier two-storey building, with the upper floor used as a granary, and a stone wall completing the enclosure of the yard at the front. A stone-walled rick-yard lies behind the barn. The buildings represent a fairly complete and largely unaltered set of mid-19th century farm buildings.