Coppice Howe bank barn, Skelsmergh and Scalthwaiterigg, Cumbria

Summary

Bank barn, C18.

Description

Bank barn, C18.

MATERIALS: rubble slatestone with slate roofs.

PLAN: a two-storey bank barn oriented east to west, with ground floor access from the farmyard and ramped first-floor access.

EXTERIOR: set at right-angles to the farmhouse is a substantial, quoined, stone bank barn beneath a pitched roof of graduated slate, with an uneven ridge line. It is built along the contours into the slope of the hillside. The south elevation facing into the farmyard has access to the ground floor through a pair of segmental-headed entrances with boarded doors, and three similar but narrower entrances, now (2022) blocked with inserted upper windows to the east end. There are a further five entrances all with boarded doors and replaced concrete lintels. To the upper floor, there are three openings, the most westerly beneath a waney timber lintel, and the central one occupying the place of a former winnowing door. The central part of this elevation appears to have been partially rebuilt. The east gable is blind and has an attached, open, lean-to addition with a small chimney; a timber lintel to the apex suggests the presence of a blocked opening. The west gable is blind, with an attached single-storey lean-to. The rear elevation has a pair of openings at the east end, one blocked, and one with a narrow-boarded door with strap hinges. There is a central double threshing door with a timber lintel, flanked by a pair of ventilation slits to either side (two blocked), and an opening to the right end beneath a waney timber lintel.

INTERIOR: the first-floor threshing barn has a timber threshing floor, flanked by storage areas to either side; a single hatch to the floor below is visible, and there is a later chute to the east gable. The original adzed-dressed roof structure comprises six pegged triangular trusses with collars and some struts, hafted into a ridge piece, and there are double purlins. The ground floor is divided into several low compartments, retaining waney and adze-dressed timber ceiling beams. There is a significant survival of early, timber cow byre and stable fittings. Towards the west end, there is cattle housing in the form of rows of double stalls comprising wooden frames enclosing wide boarded panels. The vertical posts at the end of each stall are carried up to meet the ceiling beams and many are at an angle in the form of crotched stall-posts. Towards the east end, there is a stable containing several individual timber boarded stalls with cobbled floors and timber food racks.

History

The deeds for Coppice Howe date back to 1580 when the farm it was sold by James Leyburne to Allan Gilpin of Patton for £26. It is considered that this barn was constructed in the early C18 when the house was extended and refurbished. Although there are some known C17 bank barns these were more commonly constructed on large, wealthy estates, and few small-scale bank barns are thought to have been built before about 1730. The farmhouse and the bank barn are both depicted on the first edition 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey surveyed in 1858, and largely retain the same footprints on the 1898 revision and on subsequent maps down to the present day.

Reasons for Listing

Coppice Howe bank barn, of C18 date, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a good example of a two-storey Cumbrian bank barn that illustrates the key characteristics of the building type, and whose various functions are well expressed within the historic fabric;
* constructed in the local vernacular style and materials, it contributes to our knowledge and understanding of regional diversity in agricultural buildings;
* it retains extensive timber byre and stable fittings, which are now increasingly rare features, and its interest is enhanced by the retention of an original timber roof structure.

Group value:

* taken together with the adjacent farmhouse, it illustrates the type of simple, small Cumbrian farmstead that characterise the area.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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