Building record 6559/1/12 - Probable cow house

{1} The south facing elevation is brick-built, laid in an English Garden Wall bond (one course of header bricks to three courses of stretcher bricks) with bull nosed brick corbels. The north facing elevation is built of coursed and roughly squared local stone. The door and window reveal on the western gable are again red bull nosed bricks, the roof is again modern Welsh Slate and the roof timbers have been replaced.
The building consists of three bays, with brick–built partition walls; the western bays open onto yard 1 via four single doors while the easternmost bay has an open gable facing yard 2 to the east. There are two doors in the wall between the central bay and the eastern bay as well as a single door and window in the gable wall of the western most bay.
There is nothing to indicate the original use of the building, but its layout suggests another cow house with stalls along the northern wall. The smaller western bay may have been loose boxes or calving pens and the open gable of the eastern bay may have served a small covered yard.
Interestingly the smaller, northernmost door on the east wall of the central bay suggests there may have originally been a feeding passage along this northern wall. Such passages began to appear during the 19th century, feed was brought into the cow house from a separate building and speeded up the feeding and reduced waste because the farmer no longer needed to push pass the animals from behind with the danger of dropped feed being fouled in the dung.

<1> Richards, G., 2013, An Archaeological Standing Building Survey: Heathencote Farm, Heathencote, Northamptonshire, p.8 (checked) (Report). SNN109592.

Record last edited

Jun 20 2014 3:18PM