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Summary

Stable building of 17th century origin, containing the oldest fabric within the farmyard complex.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1106931: FARMBUILDNGS FORMING THE WEST AND SOUTH RANGES OF THE FARMYARD TO THE EAST OF LOXBEARE BARTON

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STABLE (XVII to XX - 1601 AD to 2000 AD (Between))

Full description

Wakeham, C. S., 2007, Archaeological Building Survey and Watching Brief at Loxbeare Barton, Loxbeare, Devon, 5.1; 2; Plates 1, 2, 5 (Report - Watching Brief). SDV356370.

The stable occupied the north-western corner of the farmyard. It was a two storey, symmetrically fenestrated building measuring 12.4m x 4.6m internally. It was largely of 18th/19th-century construction, although the northern elevation appeared to have been built in the 17th century. The stable was built predominantly from randomly coursed angular slate and volcanic rubble with volcanic quoins and brick dressings. Some cob had been used at loft level in the western wall. The northern end wall was comprised mainly of coursed, dressed volcanic stone (outside) and coursed angular rubble (inside), representing an earlier construction phase.
The northern elevation contained the oldest fabric within the farmyard complex, probably of 17th-century date, although a small amount of 18thI19th-century rubble was added to raise the roofline by circa 0.3m. TThe wall contained five putlog holes.
The elevation extended beyond the stable to the west to attach to the house and provide a lintel to the garden entrance. Not including the garden entrance, the elevation had three doorways, one to the stable, one above to the loft, and the third, to the east, to the cart shed. The two westerly stable doors were fitted with wooden lintels and doorframes with inward opening doors. The stable doorway was 1.9m wide and located at the eastern end of the elevation. The original planks of the door were covered in carved graffiti. Most were initials, although there were two numbers, 1104 and 1881, the latter possibly a date. Above the doorway was a drip mould comprised of a number of chamfered short volcanic stones. The turned down ends were still in situ, which implies that the opening was at its original width.
The loft doorway was 1.8m high, and offset to the west of centre of the elevation. Immediately above the lintel was a second drip mould. This extended across the full extent of the original masonry and was chamfered down at the eastern end, where it reached the original slope of the half-hipped roof. This is indicative of an original feature and shows that most of the northern elevation was retained to its full height. Above the drip mould was an area of heavily rendered stonework and the eastern side of the wall contained a section of later stonework, implying an alteration to the roofline.
The eastern elevation represented the 18thI19th-century frontage. This wall was symmetrically fenestrated with a louvred window positioned to either side of a central door. A small loading hatch was situated directly over the door. All openings had volcanic stone quoins and were fitted with wooden frames.
The ground floor openings all had identical segmental red brick arches, the doorway formerly being a central window. As a result of the conversion, the volcanic stone quoins to the door varied in colour and size above and below the level of the earlier window. This doorway was c. 2.4m high and boarded up during the 20th century. The threshold was over 0.8m above the level of the yard.
The colour and texture of the stone of the quoins and facework varied across the elevation, resulting in visible horizontal banding. As the whole wall was bonded with a pinkish mortar, suggesting that repair had not taken place, this banding is thought to be the result of differential wear to bands of stone of differing quality.
Due to the slope of the yard, the floor level of the stable at the south-east corner was c. 1.7m above the ground outside.
The southern elevation was largely masked by the adjoining linhay, the loft floor beams, purlins and ridge piece of which had been inserted into this wall. There were no noticeable breaks within the masonry where this occurs, suggesting that stable and linhay were built at the same time.
Two small holes were present, one immediately over the apex of the linhay roof, the other about 0.3m to the east. The positions suggest that the holes accommodated two purlins at the apex of an earlier linhay roof, although there were no other traces, such as variations in the weathering of the stonework, to support this.
The western wall was built in coursed rubble, with a 9.1m long band of cob extending from the northern wall. A series of at least 12 circular joist holes (c. 0.lm diameter and 0.3m apart) was situated within the cob at heights of between 2.9m and 3.1m above ground level. At this height they would not have provided a floor that could serve the current cart shed.
There were also two holes in the cob that ran right through the wall, the largest measuring 0.4m x 0.4m. These holes were positioned c. 4m from each end of the building and perhaps held earlier projecting floor beams.
The southern end of the wall is continuous with the build of the linhay. At the northern end it abuts the c. 17th-century north wall.
The interior of the stable appeared to have been laid out during the 19th century to accommodate between four and six stalls along the western wall. Little of the woodwork for the stalls remained, although three posts (about 2m in height) were retained and incorporated into a 20th-century concrete and brick feed trough running the length of the building.
A wooden hayrack, presumably of 20th-century origin, was situated above the feed trough. This hayrack superseded an earlier rack, of which two-fifths of the top bar had survived.
The floor of the stable had been partly concreted over, although a large area of square sets remained exposed along the western wall. This had a north-south aligned surface gulley at its
eastern edge. Evidence of post settings for stalls for four horses survived in the incomplete floor surface, although the earlier hayrack extended as far as the southern wall, implying that there were originally stalls all along the western wall. The area to the east of the square sets was cobbled and these continued under the concrete at the northern end of the building.
Four loft floor beams sat on timber wall pads, themselves set on 0.35m high stone piers built into the external walls. These piers were evenly spaced (just over 2.m apart) and alternate with unevenly spaced piers of similar height, presumably from an earlier floor.
The loft was accessed from within the stable by a fixed ladder and a square hole through the loft floor near the north-eastern corner. This ladder was of late 20th-century date, although the access hole appeared to be contemporary with the loft floor. A feedhole for the hayrack extended along the length of the western wall.
Roof
The slate roof rose to a full gable at the southern end and was half hipped to the north. It was supported by four tie-beam trusses with kingposts and queen struts. The trusses appeared to sit on separate wooden pads rather than a continuous wall plate. The kingposts were bolted onto the tie beam and had spanner slots on their northern faces. This truss type was the most common throughout the range (plate 3). The trusses supported a purlin to either side, and a narrow ridge piece at the apex, above which were the rafters. The roof was lined during the late 20th century.
Watching brief
On removal of the cobbles, the undisturbed red brown clay geology was exposed to a distance of c. 4m from the northern end of the building. This was overlain at the southern end of the building by a dirty reddish brown clay with frequent volcanic stone inclusions and occasional scraps of metal. There were no other finds. This material produced a level surface for the floor. At the south wall the introduced material had a maximum depth of 0.7m.
To the north of the doorway, the footings of the eastern wall projected 0.1 in into the building at a depth of 0.13m below floor level. Large rocks, set in clay, were also present beneath the doorway in the north wall although it was unclear whether these were in situ or introduced to act as foundations.
Map object based on this source.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6563 - Building Survey and Watching Brief at Loxbeare Barton (Ref: 07.81)

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