SNN111966 - Historic Agricultural Buildings at Mercer's Farm, 9 High Street, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire: Historic Building Record

A record was made of a group of historic farm buildings at Earls Barton village, Northamptonshire, prior to their conversion to residential usage. The report combines direct inspection of the buildings and primary source research to ascertain an understanding of their historical context, function, and chronological development. Centrally located in the village, within an ancient close, the farmstead formerly known as Mercer’s Farm was already in existence in 1771. The comparison of historic maps suggests that the farm underwent a planned re-organisation, from dispersed layout, to a courtyard form in the late 19th century. Documentary analysis reveals that the transformation was complete by the mid-1880s, a process which may well have begun in the 1870s. Although Mercer’s Farm was a mixed farm, the courtyard buildings reflect an emphasis on stock rearing and milk production. They comprise an L-shaped brick-built range of enclosed and openfronted cow houses and milking houses, a free-standing cow house, and a stone-built barn, the latter a modified relic of the pre-Victorian farmstead. The report identifies the main phases of development for the existing buildings; the L-shaped range possibly comprising two construction events. The internal features of cow houses and milking houses are variable. Brick-built mangers are present in three of the buildings, while one cow house largely retains a brick floor. The former milking areas have formed concrete troughs and impervious concrete floors with cleansing passage, all of which were undoubtedly a response to the introduction and re-working of regulations for cow houses and milking houses from 1879 and 1885 onwards. By means of photographic catalogue, scaled elevations and plans, the report provides a descriptive and illustrative account of the building’s interior and exterior in its present ‘as found’ state.