Agricultural ranges, boundary walls and cobbled yard at The Ashes

Summary

Agricultural ranges of early-C19 date incorporating an earlier barn, and boundary walls of varying dates.

Reasons for Designation

The attached agricultural buildings and boundary walls of early-C19 date at The Ashes are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the L-shaped range is a handsome and sophisticated illustration of the local vernacular executed in pink sandstone that survives well with legible functionality, and incorporates an earlier small barn retaining a roof structure of re-used mid-C16 timbers;
* the former function of the attached south barn is clearly legible through its external historic fabric.

Group value:

* all structures benefit from a spatial, functional and historic group value with the Grade II* listed house.

History

The agricultural buildings at The Ashes are all present on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860, along with other agricultural structures that are now demolished including a ging gang and a south range. They are however, considered to have been added in the early-C19, with the exception of the 'bottom barn' which is thought to be earlier. Preliminary results from recent dendrochronological work indicate that this building contains some mid-C16 roof timbers, thought to have been reused from demolished buildings elsewhere on the site.

Details

Agricultural ranges and cobbled yard of early-C19 date, and boundary walls of varying dates.

MATERIALS: mostly coursed, roughly squared pink sandstone (Greystoke Pink) with tooled ashlar dressings and Lakeland slate roofs.

PLAN: an L-shaped agricultural range attached to the north gable of a mid-C16 house, terminated by a smaller (bottom) barn. The farm buildings enclose two sides of a rectangular cobbled yard, and boundary walls enclose both this yard and the garden to the east front of the house. A former barn of similar date is also attached to the south gable of the house.

EXTERIOR: a multi-functional L-shaped two-storey farm range comprising a former stable, now incorporated within the domestic accommodation of the attached house; it retains a former stable door and pitching door above, both within alternating stone surrounds; there is a pair of slit vents to the rear wall. To the right is a large segmental-arched entrance passage with raised imposts and keystones, with a pair of small loft windows above. A barn is attached to the right of the arched passage: it has a projecting entry porch to the north elevation fitted with double boarded doors beneath a timber lintel, and a pent roof. Small bricked up openings on the west elevation indicate the former presence of a secondary horse gang, now removed. There is also an opposing and similar pent-roofed porch to the east elevation which is continued southwards as a shallow external two-bay aisle with timber lintels. The barn’s north gable has a single slit vent. A granary range runs west-east at right angles from the north end of the barn: the first part is a cart shed formed of an arcade of three round-headed and keyed arches, with three windows with simple stone surrounds and a pitching door above. The remainder of the range has a door to a ground floor byre with a slit vent to either side, and further slit vents and a pitching door above. The east gable has several small windows, three slit vents and a rectangular opening to the apex forming an owl hole. Attached to the east end of the L-shaped agricultural range there is a narrower, single-storey, three-bay barn with a continuous roof line and a pitched roof of graduated stone slates. The first bay has a stable door to a loose box, the second bay has an arched opening, and the third gabled, projecting bay has a full-width vehicular opening with a timber lintel and a small window to the apex. Attached to the south gable of the house, there is a lower, set back C19 red sandstone agricultural building with a hip-ended roof and C20 door and windows.

INTERIOR: the double-arched cart shed beneath the granary has a cobbled floor; all other floors are concrete. The ground floor of the granary range has a C20 concrete byre, and an inserted timber loft. The first-floor granary is reached via an internal stone stair in the north end of the range. The ‘bottom barn’ comprises a loose box, a store and a stable with three C20 timber stalls. The roof structure is of re-used mid-C16 timbers. The south barn has an entirely modern interior.

SUBSIDIARY ITEMS: a rectangular cobbled yard with neatly-laid, insitu cobbles. The east and south-east corner of the cobbled yard is bounded by a stone wall that continues to form the west and south sides of the house garden. This wall is considered to comprise several different phases, and retains evidence of former openings, and fragments of earlier buildings.

Sources

Other
The Ashes, High Bridge, Dalston, Cumbria: An Archaeological/Structural Assessment 2005, Peter F Ryder

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