History

Early 1850s and said to have been designed to house European bison, although later used as a cowhouse with cart shed. Slightly later than the main block of buildings at Leighton Farm, the model farm on the Leighton Estate. 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

Long, 2-storey height stockhouse of brick with slate roof (which has 10 skylights inserted) and with coped stone gables on moulded kneelers. The feed was introduced on E side where the ground is at a higher level. This elevation has 5 full-height doorways, to the L of each of which are 3-window ranges. The doorways have stone thresholds and chamfered jambs, and have boarded doors with recessed circular iron handles. The windows have segmental heads and stone sills, and either louvres or hopper windows. On the W side the stock entered and the muck was taken out. It has splayed angles and 15 round-headed openings with white-brick impost band, beneath which the bricks are of a darker red colour. Above each opening are breathers in a lozenge pattern. Some of the openings have boarded doors, the remainder have blind lower halves, thus creating lunette windows. This sequence is interrupted by a doorway under a timber lintel to L of centre which has double wooden doors, and a wide full-height opening to L which is partly boarded. (The S gable end has a modern lean-to.)

Interior

The interior is divided by means of brick partition walls. King post roof with raking struts. The sliding doors have horizontal runners.

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 West Stockhouse is an integral part of the farm complex and is a well-detailed building of a highly-specialised design retaining its original character.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17744372

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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