SNN114889 - Mill Barn, Mill Lane, Islip, Northamptonshire: Historic Building Recording

This report presents the results of a programme of historic building recording undertaken by Witham Archaeology at Mill Barn, Mill Lane, Islip, Northamptonshire. The project was commissioned by Ross Thain Architects on behalf of the Drayton Estate to meet the requirements of a condition attached to planning permission granted by East Northamptonshire District Council. The recorded building lies to the east of the village, and just west of the River Nene. Islip Mill, an 18th century Grade II listed watermill and mill house lies approximately 90m south-east of the recorded building on the west bank of the river. Three buildings visible in the area north of Mill Lane on the 1835 First Series Ordnance Survey map appear to lie within the boundaries of a farmstead depicted on later mapping. One of these buildings, located close to Mill Lane, could have been the farmhouse, while a second building located further to the north could correlate with the surviving ‘Mill Barn’. A more complete representation of the farmstead contained on the First Edition Ordnance Survey County map of 1886 shows a structure at the location of the extant building surrounded by crew yards and other farm buildings. The farm buildings appear to have survived until at least 1958 when they were shown as largely intact on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map, but (except for the extant building) they had been demolished by the time of the corresponding map in 1973. The surviving farm building is now roofless and the floor of a two-storey element at the western end has either collapsed or has been removed. The main part of the structure, which would have been open to the roof, has many of the characteristics of a straw barn or chaff house, including a pitching door in the south wall (now infilled with brick) and a single width door in the north wall (as opposed to the large cart doors of a threshing barn). Chaff houses became increasingly common in the 19th century, functioning as stores for straw to be distributed around the cattle yards for fodder. Two-storey arrangements of the type recorded at Mill Barn, are frequently seen in combination with larger single space areas. These often take the form of a stable at ground floor with hayloft and/or granary above. At Mill Barn there is no convincing evidence for a stable and it would appear that the ground floor area might originally have served as a chaff cutting and/or fodder preparation area, while the space above could have served as a hayloft and/or granary. A door at first floor in the west gable wall is probably a secondary feature, possibly related to the installation of an item of barn machinery (perhaps, a mechanised cutter) at first floor. Evidence for this device is provided by a small opening in the wall north of the door, which may have facilitated connection to a driveshaft extending to an engine located outside the building. A row of mangers located against the western boundary wall south of the extant building would, originally have been at the rear of a cattle shelter shed (identifiable as such from its association with the adjacent cattle yard and its being open-fronted on the east side) shown the 1886 Ordnance Survey map.