Listing Text

PELTON

1387/0/10006 Newfield Farmstead
07-FEB-08

GV II
Planned Farmstead, remodelled from an earlier farmstead in c. 1861

MATERIALS: random rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings and industrial brick to hemmel arches. Welsh slate roofs, brick gin gang and one corrugated asbestos roof. Cast iron columns to cart shed.

PLAN: South-facing farmstead of characteristic E-plan with two principal fold yards to the front and gin gang attached to north.

EXTERIOR: Main (South) Elevation: The 2-storey north range incorporating threshing barn, is oriented east-west with a doorway and a pair of hemmels opening into each of the two fold yards either side of the projecting central range. Each pair of hemmels has large firebrick voussoirs and prominent quoins. A single 16-pane sash window is the only ground floor window. At first floor level there are 9 window openings immediately beneath the eaves, some are part slatted and one contains a 16-pane sash window frame; all have stone sills, some of which are replacements. A small triangular group of stone pigeon nest boxes/perching ledges have been built against the upper east gable. The 2-storey projecting stable range to the left with hayloft over has hipped roof of slate. It has a centrally placed doorway with boarded door flanked by paired windows with stone lintels and sills. At first floor level, there are five slatted and part slatted window openings. There is a door through the south gable end with a boarded door and rectangular light and a single window to the first floor. An attached lean-to containing a single first floor gable window is the cart shed, which was formerly open to the west and now in filled with slatted panels. The right projecting byre range is single storey with a hipped roof covered with corrugated asbestos sheeting. There is an entrance in the gable end and the west elevation has 4 window openings. The red brick extension to the gable end is not considered to be of special interest. The projecting central range containing the straw barn and turnip house is single storey with a half-hipped roof and large cart opening in the south gable end. There are single hemmels in the east and west elevations facing into each of the two fold yards, which are enclosed by low stone walls to the south, each with large central gate openings.

Rear (North) Elevation: a mixture of doors and windows at both levels including a ground floor cart entrance with firebrick voussoirs and two first floor pitching doors. There is a five-sided brick built gin gang projecting from the rear with a conical roof of slate.

INTERIOR: the position of the former threshing machine can be determined from the pattern of joists in the ground floor ceiling of the threshing barn. There is a large rectangular opening with firebrick relieving arch through the south wall of the threshing barn into the straw barn; the latter is characteristically open to the roof. The stable range has 8 stalls each complete with manger, trough and partitions and a door at the north end leads through into two individual loose boxes. Although the byre has had all internal fittings removed, the location of the former stall divisions can be seen in the east wall.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: associated pair of labourers' cottages have special interest for their Group Value with the farmstead; they are also designated in Grade II and form the subject of separate listing. The interest of a set of brick pigsties and a small stone slaughter house, which also formed part of the original planned farm, has been compromised by alteration and disrepair and hence these buildings are not considered to be of special interest.

HISTORY: The first phase of this farmstead dates from before 1859 when it is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of that date. It comprised a main north range with a gin gang attached to its north wall and two ranges projecting to the south. The north range appears to house a threshing machine driven by horse power with associated functions contained in the two projecting ranges. By the time of its depiction on the second edition Ordnance Survey map in 1896, the farmstead had been remodelled by an improving landowner. The map shows a planned farmstead of E-plan layout with detached farmhouse, labourers' cottages and a pigsty. The date of this remodelling is thought to have occurred in 1861. Today the farm is 250 acres in extent but was probably larger in the past; this represents a large holding in County Durham terms where the tradition was of considerably smaller holdings of c. 50 to 150 acres in extent.

The period 1750-1880 is the most important for farm building development and one which witnessed major developments in both plans and building types. Changes in farming practice such as the widespread adoption of artificial fertilisers and feeds, the extension of mechanisation, the accommodation and feeding of greater numbers of livestock and the application of process-flow and scientific principles were reflected in farm planning. Courtyard layouts were developed in which the various farm processes were carefully placed in relationship to each other. Hence, barns, stables, feed stores and cattle shelters were ranged around a yard or yards and carefully placed in relation to one another in order to minimise labour and conserve manure. The earliest examples are courtyard or U-plan but from the 1820s and 1830s, extra yards made E or even double-E plans. Detached buildings such as farmers and labourers' housing and pig sties were commonly also part of the integrated complex.

SOURCES: S Wade-Martins: The English Model Farm (2002); P Barnwell & Colum Giles: English Farmsteads 1750-1914 (1997); J Lake Historic Farmsteads: preliminary characterisation web document for the North East region (unpublished).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
This mid C19 planned farmstead is designated in Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is a good example of a planned farmstead dating from
one of the most important phases in the history of farm
building development

* It is a characteristic farm type for the north east but a
regionally distinctive survival in County Durham which
illustrates the character and development of local farming
traditions within the context of the overall national patterns in
farming history

* It has been little altered since its planned layout in the mid
C19

* It has strong Group Value with the pair of labourers' cottages

* It is strongly representative of the vernacular building
traditions of the north east lowlands

* The plan form of the farmstead provides clear, legible
evidence relating to its process flow.