| Abstract: |
An appropriate record has been made of the buildings. floor plans and a representative cross section were required. All drawings were produced on site on permatrace, using hand-held tapes and electronic distometers. The drawn record shows all features of interest that have been recorded photographically, as well as showing other features of historical significance that may not be directly affected by the proposal but which are necessary to put those features in context. The threshing barn at North End farm was erected in the mid – late 19th century, and shows no evidence of a former engine house. However, the dovecot was shown to be connected to the barn on the 1892 OS map, which may suggest that it had been converted to hold an engine by this time. However, no openings were found on the northern face of the dovecot to allow for the transmission of power. This is not to say that an engine was not used however, as portable steam engines and threshing machines were taken from farm to farm. The fact that the barn was built without an engine suggests that they either used a portable machine or that hand flailing was still used. Both suggest that a dedicated engine was not considered viable, despite the size of the barn, perhaps indicating the amount of threshing that occurred. The other farm buildings show little innovation either, in terms of having been adapted in historic times to a new use. Building 4 is an exception to this. This was built as a shelter shed for cattle, but was altered for containing pigs, in the early 19th century. This suggests that the farm moved away from cattle in this period. Pig keeping began to emerge as a specialist aspect of farming in its own right during the course of the 19th century. Some very notable Victorian landowners, including the Royal Family, had very extensive and well-appointed piggeries on their estates and followed with interest the performance of their stock at the agricultural shows. As such, the adoption of pig farming in the early 19th century may well relate to this.
The farm began as a part of the estate of the earl of Derby, shown as a small collection of 5 buildings on the site in 1785. Weston House appears to have used traditional methods of farming, as suggested by the shelter shed (building 4). The farm appears to have remained as a part of the villa estate until the late 19th / early 20th century. However, the lack of a purpose built threshing machine suggests that they were not necessarily technological innovators or adopters, although the suspected change from cattle to pigs associated with building 4 suggests that they followed the upper classes in their farming ideals. The farm appears to have had several buildings over its period of use with many more buildings shown on the 1843 tithe plan than the 1785 estate plan. It is unknown what the building to the northeast corner of the site, shown on the tithe plan is. However, it was of a considerable size and demolished between 1845 and 1892. This may suggest it was an earlier barn, replaced by building one in the late 19th century. The excavation by Headland Archaeology found the remains of the southern wall of this building, of a sandstone construction, with a cobbled walkway running parallel to it, to the south. |
