| Abstract: |
Solstice Heritage was commissioned to provide a record of the built heritage resource, to Historic England Level 2 standard, prior to a scheme of redevelopment at West Middleton Farm, Hutton Magna, County Durham. The historic building recording of the farm buildings at West Middleton Farm has provided a documentary record of the buildings. It can be seen from the study that each of the buildings has developed over time, as well as experiencing innumerable smaller individual alterations. The building recording exercise was focused on a range of farm buildings including a central, large, north-south oriented barn and an attached wheelhouse and lean-to, both of which lay to the west of the main barn range. All of the building elements are Grade II listed (NHLE 1121662), including those attached outbuildings to the eastern side of the barn which were not part of the scope of this study.
The changes made to the barn over time, principally related to the introduction of a horse-gin to mechanise the threshing process, are reflective of common trends linked to wider changes in agriculture in the ‘High Farming’ years after 1840. At this time, a greater impetus for owners to invest in new farm buildings and greater levels of mechanisation is reflected at West Middleton in the construction of almost all of the other agricultural buildings present aside from the core of the barn itself.
West Middleton also provides an interesting case study in the importance of the land agent profession in the history of agriculture. Unusually in this case, the farm was owned directly by a land agent throughout the mid-19th century. As a consequence of this ownership it seems to have directly benefitted from forward-thinking investment and proactive management throughout this time, resulting in a well-planned, small farmstead of this period, which survives much intact today. With that said, the size and date of the farmhouse and barn at West Middleton suggests an older and more complex origin for the farm. The relative grandeur of the farmhouse, and the level of investment required to build a barn of the scale present here suggests that the farm may have been developed and owned by a yeoman farmer, or even as part of a manorial farm, from at least the 17th century and perhaps earlier. |
