Building record 1168/4/2 - Granary & cart standing at Home Farm

Granary. Early/mid C19. Coursed limestone rubble, slate roof.

{1} Granary. Early/mid C19. Coursed limestone rubble, slate roof. 2 storeys. 5-bay cart-standing to ground floor open on timber posts to yard with wood lintels and beams. 1st floor front wall above is timber framed with red brick infill in stretcher bond. Central 1st floor plank door. Included for group value.

{3} The outbuilding associated with Home Farm is an interesting building. It is grand in both appearance and scale. It contains a number of un-necessary flourishes and finely finished timbers. However, it is clearly an agricultural building of a common design, a cart shed with a granary above, common in the Midlands from the late 18th century onwards.
Cartographic evidence inidates a building on the site in the early 19th century, this historic building recording observed no physical evidence that the recorded building dates to this period. The roof structure, slates and bricks all appear to be late 19th century in date and the stonework cannot be dated. Indeed the first edition Ordnance Survey (1881) does not record a building at all. It is only the second edition in 1900 which records the building. It is likely therefore that the current building was re-built on the footprint of this earlier building, possibly utilising some remaining standing walls, if any from the earlier building in the late 19th century.
The grand style of the building is unusual. The 1900 Ordnance Survey describes the building as "Cattle Pens," so it is possible that the building was enhanced in the early 20th century and converted into the cart shed and granary seen today. The agent employed by the Society of Merchant Venturers, who brought the estate in 1945 remarked that Lord Penrhyn's tenants 'had been chosen as much for their ability to ride to hounds as their farming skill'. It is possible, therefore that the tenant at Home Farm was more than a common tenant farmer and attempted to reflect this status in the buildings of Home Farm.
A more descriptive passage can be found in section 3 of the report.

{5} Undated photo;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 17/141 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F11 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Richards, G., 2013, An Archaeological Standing Building Survey: Home Farm, Wicken, Northamptonshire, 2013, (checked) (Report). SNN109150.

<4> Horne B. (Editor), 2014, South Midlands Archaeology (44), p. 33 (Journal). SNN109842.

<5> Photographs of buildings in Wicken (Photographs). SNN114205.

Record last edited

Nov 2 2022 10:30AM