Building record 599/5/3 - Barns to the west of The Grange (formerly Manor farm)

Two conjoined barns, probably of post-1720 date, have been added to a former 17th-century domestic service range, which was deliberately detached from its farmhouse of 1656 in order to create a farmyard access. Subsequent alterations to the ranges have probably reflected a variety of uses to which they have been put. The current plan-layout has been fully in place since before 1810.

{1} The earliest barn was clearly once part of the farmhouse and, when connected to it, appears to have most likely served as a rear service range. This interpretation would establish the eastern barn of the north range as dating to the mid seventeenth-century i.e. to 1656 and built by the Harby family, along with the farmhouse.
The long, slightly lower, barn added to the west side of the barn converted from the service building
is a typical eighteenth-century style farm barn both in size, configuration and construction. Although
altered, it retains its original outline in plan and elevation with relatively minor changes to openings through the external walls. These no doubt reflect changes in farming practice and ownership over
the years. It probably dates to the period post-1720 when the Harby family sold the manor to the
Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy but pre-dates 1810 when it is depicted on the Ordnance Survey
preparatory map. The roof has been re-covered in blue slate although the timberwork has been
retained; it was almost certainly originally thatched.
The west range perhaps dates to the same period since it too is depicted on the 1810 map. That
range has undergone more extensive alteration with large sections of infilling and probable removal,
particularly along the west side. In addition the whole roof structure has been replaced during the
nineteenth-century, most likely during the latter half when slate became much more commonly
used when widespread use of the ever-increasing railway network made such material cheap and
widely available.

<1> Prentice, J., 2016, Building recording on agricultural barns at The Grange, Adstone, Northamptonshire, August 2016 (Report). SNN110457.

<2> Crank, N. (Editor), 2017, South Midlands Archaeology (47), p. 36 (Journal). SNN111362.

Record last edited

Apr 18 2019 2:29PM