Barn And Byre To East Of Hardcastle House

The barn and byre located to the east of Hardcastle House is an early to mid-17th century structure that underwent alterations around 1825. It is built from large square gritstone blocks and rubble, with remnants of a graduated stone slate roof. The building consists of two bays, with the left bay featuring a projecting cart porch, while the narrower right bay was formerly storeyed. The structure has massive quoins and a cart entrance with double board doors. The entrance is framed by flanking corbelled wall-ends, with one block incised "1825." Above the stonework, a wooden lintel is supported by three projecting stone slabs that form a crude dripmould, and above this is a three-part lintel, which may have always been in three pieces.

To the right of the cart entrance is a byre door, with the right jamb quoined and integrated with the building's quoins. The lintel above this door is chamfered, and the loft jamb has been rebuilt with a single thin stone, which widens the opening. There is a massive stone block and a projecting drip-stone slab to the left of the byre door, with rubble and mortar blocking built up below it. The upper floor features two small square vent holes and a square window opening below the former eaves line.

At the rear, to the right of the center, there is a large crudely cut lintel that likely belonged to a former doorway, which is now a window. A concrete surround frames a window on the far left, which may have been a former byre door. Inside, the roof, lofting, and inner wall linings had collapsed at the time of the last survey. There is a recess in the gable wall to the right of the byre entrance, which could be a blocked doorway or a cupboard recess. The right end contains concrete byre stalls, with plastered and limewashed walls. The building is in a dangerous condition, which has hindered detailed investigation. It is noted for being an unusually small barn that employs massive and crudely worked materials, with cart entrance corbelling similar to that found in other early barns in the area, reflecting structural techniques used in earlier fireplaces.