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Summary

Corn Barn, Lower Langage Farm. Circa 18th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BARN (XVII to XVIII - 1700 AD to 1800 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Barn is visible. A horse engine house is visible on the east side of the barn.

Child, P., 1998, Langage Energy Park, Lower Langage Farm (Correspondence). SDV348831.

Observations during site visit. Lower Langage Farmhouse should not be taken in isolation from it farm buildings. On the road frontage is a good probably 18th century corn barn. Should be conserved as a group to give the farmhouse its proper context. Map object based on this Source.

Cox, J. + Thorp, J. R. L., 1999, Lower Langage Farm, Sparkwell, Devon. (Report - Survey). SDV360276.

The section of cob walling towards the north end of the west wall may survive froma 17th century or even earlier barn. It is the only cob walling on the whole farmsteadand the surviving section of 18th century barn at the south end (like the 18th century house) is built of slatestone rubble. The barn was extensively rebuiltc1890-1900.

The pegslate roof on the uphill south end of the barn and on the eastern end outshut indicate that these sections were retained from the 18th century barn whilst most of the rest was rebuilt in the 19th century.

The southern opening have plain rubble jambs and these are in the section retained from the 18th century.

This outshut, or at least the south and west walls are 8th century whereas the rest of the lean-to - the entrance passage and northern outshut - date from the late 19th century. The lean-to roof of the southern outshut rests on a large oak timber with a mortise in it; it is possibly reused from the 17th century barn. The roof is also torched under the pegslates.

The main barn has a 9-bay roof. The southern 3 bays have an 18th century roof rather similar to the one over the rear block of the farmhouse. It too is fully torched. The rest of the roof has the typical scissor-braced trusses of the late 19th century farm buildings, here bolted together with plated yokes, ridgeboard and two sets of purlins secured in position by cleats.

This was the barn which appears on the Plympton St Mary tithe map from 1841. By the time of the 1866 OS map there was a large circular projection off the west side which looks very much like a horse engine house indicating that the threshing process was mechanised by this time using horse power.

Waterhouse, R., 2005, Barn at Lower Langage Farm: An Archaeological Assessment (Report - Survey). SDV360282.

Although little survives of the earliest period of construction, enough remains to show that the building began as a rectangular threshing barn aligned north-south, with a wide and tall doorway in its west wall. The walls were constructed of cob on a clay-bonded rubble stone plinth. Much of this cob has fallen in the recent past, but enough remains to show its original extent on the north-west wall. Survival of the plinth at the south-west comer of the building is implied by the thicker wall dimension here, but this could not be confirmed due to undergrowth outside and debris from the collapsed floors and roof inside.

More precise dating evidence may be present, in the form of a re-used oak truss blade in the later feed store at the south-west comer of the building. This timber had threaded purlins and a notched lap-jointed collar. These features, particularly the collar joint indicate a date in the first half of the 17th century for this timber. Unfortunately, its original location cannot be certain, as it could just as easily be from the nearby farmhouse, these design features being present on both domestic and agricultural roofs of this period.

Many farm buildings were altered or rebuilt during this period, which is represented here by the reconstruction of the south end of the building's upper levels, and alterations to the north-west lean-to. It seems likely that the building became fully floored at this time; this is suggested by a pitching door in the east wall at the south end of the building.

It seems likely that the building remained in use as a threshing barn during this period, but with hand-threshing abandoned, as the 1840 Tithe Map (Map 2) shows a semi-circular horse engine house attached to the east side of the building. The 1889 and 1906 maps show this to have been an open-sided structure, probably with a half-conical slate roof. It would have contained a vertical timber shaft on bearings, with a large-diameter ring-gear, driven round by a pony or donkey.

Mid to late 20th century - Fabric of this period is largely limited to repairs, particularly the Period 1 cob wall to the north-west, which appears to have suffered from animal erosion internally.

The survey showed that a diminutive farm building in poor structural condition nevertheless preserves good evidence for its sequential development over a 400 year period.

The presence of cob construction i11 conjunction with a high quality door jamb is typical of the quality of construction one might expect to find in a farm building in the South Devon area in the 16th to 17th centuries.

The subsequent development of the building as a threshing barn, with addition of mechanical aids to threshing and other crop processing in the 19th century, is typical of the later development of such buildings, although its conversion to a shippon and associated hayloft for cattle in the early 20th century is unusually late for the area, especially as it involved a major reconstruction in stone.

Although these comments show that the building is not out of the ordinary, it was nevertheless valuable to have made an archaeological survey of it, especially as its condition means that it may not survive for very much longer.

If however it is to be retained and repaired, this survey should provide pointers to what parts of its fabric should be kept, and the form and materials which reconstructed elements should use.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Map object based on this Source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7306 - Lower Langage Farm: Historic Building Recording (Ref: K604)
• EDV7311 - Historic Building Record: The Barn at Lower Langage Farm, Sparkwell

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