SNN108098 - Manor Farm, Harborough Road, Brampton Ash: Archaeological Building Recording

A program of archaeological building recording was undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd at Manor Farm, Brampton Ash, Northamptonshire (NGR: SP 7873 8768). The project involved the recording of redundant agricultural buildings prior to conversion for residential use, the level 2 standard as defined in the English Heritage guidelines Understanding Historic Buildings: A guide to good recording practice (2006a). The archaeological building recording programme was required as a condition of planning approval for an application to convert the study buildings into a single four bedroom dwelling with a two-bedroom annex (planning reference: KET/2011/0786). The study buildings, arranged on a courtyard plan around three sides of a cattle yard, include a barn, chaff house, implement sheds, cattle shelter shed and a stable. The earliest building is the barn, which was probably constructed in the 18th century. Later in the 18th century the chaff house and an open cattle yard were added. A stable block was constructed in one corner of the yard towards the end of the 18th or early in the 19th century. Around the middle of the 19th century a major investment in the farm saw the addition of cattle shelter sheds within the yard and the construction of a new cart shed. Alterations to the barn may have been undertaken at about the same time. Various alterations were made later in the 19th century including a conversion of one of the shelter sheds into loose boxes. The last significant investment seems to have been the partial roofing over of the yard, in the first quarter of the 20th century. The evolution of the site between the 18th and the 20th centuries follows a fairly typical pattern in response to developments in farming practices and the recommendations of contemporary agricultural commentators.