Threshing Barn and Granary, Leighton Farm, Forden with Leighton and Trelystan (Ffordun gyda Tre'r-llai a Threlystan), Powys

History

The Threshing Barn had been built by 1849, while the Granary was added later. The Barn was probably designed by the Liverpool architect W.H. Gee for John Naylor's Leighton Farm, the model farm of the Leighton Estate. A direct link was later built over the farm road from the Granary to the Mill. The Barn housed a turbine which powered a threshing machine, and also possibly chaff and root cutters.

John Naylor had acquired the Leighton Estate in 1846-47 and embarked on an ambitious programme of building, principally Leighton Hall, church and Farm, which was largely completed by the mid 1850s. Naylor continued to extend and improve the Estate until his death in 1889. His grandson, Captain J.M. Naylor, sold the Estate in 1931, when Leighton Farm was bought by Montgomeryshire County Council.

Leighton Farm was a model farm where rational farming methods were employed using techniques derived from science and industry. It was characteristic of its period but especially notable for its scale. Apart from the rationalisation of farm design, its principal aims were to provide better shelter for livestock and fodder, the recycling of manure as fertiliser, and mechanisation, principally in the form of turbines and hydraulic rams.

The main farm complex is roughly square in plan and enclosed by perimeter roads (although important buildings were added beyond it). The farm was a piecemeal development but it is structured either side of a central E-W axis in which a threshing barn was built with hay and fodder storage buildings either side of it, all of which were linked by a broad gauge railway. On the N and S sides of this axis stockyards were built, served by 2 N-S service roads in addition to the perimeter roads. By 1849 4 small yards (Stockyard IV) had been built S of the Threshing Barn with a Stable fronting the road, these 3 elements forming the central block of buildings. On the E and W sides, fronting the road to the S, houses were built (on the W side with an office and further livestock sheds behind). After 1849 3 stockyards (Stockyards I, II, III) were built on the N side of the main axis. By 1855 there had been additions beyond the perimeter road, with the building of a Mill and Pig and Sheep houses (which enclose 2 further stockyards) on the N side and a further stock shed with yard on the W side. In the late 1850s a Sheep-Drying Shed and a further Fodder Storage Building in line with the main E-W axis had been added, followed by a Root Shed at the south-east corner of the complex in the 1860s.

The buildings were carefully designed to achieve a strong visual impact when approached from the roads to the N or W. The landscape was carefully controlled so that Leighton Farm could not be seen from the main Buttington to Forden road to W, alongside which was a mixed woodland plantation. The main entrance to the farm was intended to be from the N side where there is an imposing gateway and lodge beside the church. The pig and sheep houses in particular create a grand facade when approached from the N, but Stockyards I and II, the Fodder Storage Buildings, Stable and Poolton at the south-west corner, are all designed to impress when viewed from the outside.

Exterior

Consisting of a Threshing Barn with Granary on N side above the W and E ranges of Stockyards I and II respectively. The Granary extends N over the farm road to the Mill, where it also has an E wing with axis at right angles to the main range of the Granary, and which has an outshut attached to the Tank House. Of brick with slate roofs and with coped gables on moulded kneelers.

The Threshing Barn has stepped diagonal buttresses. In its E and W gable ends it has a tall round-headed doorway with stone imposts, above which is a bullseye opening. The side walls have blind round-headed windows, some with breathers. On the N side is a cross-gabled bay to which the Granary was later attached. On the NE side is a small structure with swept roof open to the E, said to have contained a pit (now infilled) with access to a system of drains carrying muck from Stockyard IV to a sump in Stockyard II. (Attached on its N side is another small shed with double doors under a concrete lintel to E. Attached to SW side is modern lean-to.) The Threshing Barn has a fragment of plateway in the E entrance.

The Granary has a wide vent ridge consisting of glazed and louvred panels, and round-headed openings to Stockyards I and II. Above the farm road the E wing of the Granary has horizontal sliding boarded doors with steel lintel and threshold. An outshut at the E end has a wide round-headed doorway and boarded doors with prominent strap hinges.

Interior

The Threshing Barn is divided into 3 bays internally. The outer bays have scissor braced trusses with collar beams; the central bay, incorporating the cross-gable to N, has king posts with raking struts. At the upper floor level, reached by modern wooden steps, is a large round-headed opening to cross-gable which leads into the Granary (access to which was not possible).

Reasons for Listing

The Leighton Estate is an exceptional example of high-Victorian estate development. It is remarkable for the scale and ambition of its conception and planning, the consistency of its design, the extent of its survival, and is the most complete example of its type in Wales. Leighton Farm is one of the principal foci of this development and is a Victorian model farm of national importance, representing the pioneering use of new technology, displaying a highly-structured layout and achieving an impressive architectural unity. Listed Grade II*, the Threshing Barn stood at the hub of the working farm, is especially associated with the application of pioneering technology at Leighton, and together with the Granary is a well-detailed building retaining its original character.

External Links

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