Outbuildings at Shepherds Farm, Back Lane, Brattleby: Historic Building Survey

Photography was undertaken in 35mm digital SLR colour using a 10.4 Mpixel format. Photographs were taken of the buildings to create an initial archive, and included general shots of the site and detailed photography of room arrangement; main elevations and constructional details such as window openings, and fixtures and fittings, such as doors and window fenestration. Weather conditions began overcast with extended sunny intervals later in the day. Low light levels necessitated the use of flash in all interior situations and included some fill-in flash to penetrate the shadows in the exterior shots. The photographs were further supplemented by Room-based record sheets and Brickwork recording sheets The buildings which are subject to this development are the stables (Building A) situated to the east of the farmhouse and a further set of outbuildings comprising a barn (Building B) and pigsties (Building C) located on the northern boundary of the plot, opposite the stables. With the associated farmhouse, the outbuildings represent a typical farmstead building group of the period of redevelopment following the enclosure of the parish and forming part of the extensive changes associated with the partial relocation and remodelling of the village and the emparking of the land surrounding the nearby Brattleby Hall. The porch on the farmhouse carries a date stone of 1868, while the initials SWW certainly refer to a member of the Wright family who owned the hall and village throughout this period. The farmstead plot was occupied before the enclosure of Brattleby parish, and it is possible that the original walls of Building A are those of the eastern building shown on the 1779 enclosure award, as it was not unusual in the 19th century for a farmhouse to be replaced or extensively updated while the functional and less visible outbuildings of the farmstead received more cursory treatment or none. However, there is little evidence beyond its plan form to support this interpretation, as limestone rubble walls are not readily datable and the roof of Building A is certainly Victorian, although the roundwood ties do hark back to an earlier construction method and it is possible that the stables were re-roofed, rather than totally rebuilt, when the farmhouse was upgraded in 1868. By the time of the 1st edition OS map of 1886, the farmhouse and stable are clearly shown, along with an open-fronted building on the southern boundary of the plot. By the time of the 2nd edition map in 1906 a new group of buildings, including the barn and pigsties, had been constructed on the northern boundary of the site. Later mapping shows that a building to the east of the barn had been lost between the 1950s and 1974, while the open-fronted building is known to have been demolished in 2011 when the farmhouse was extended. While the stables have been renovated, they largely retain their original external appearance and some original interior fabric including the roundwood roof ties indicative of an earlier date and the post of a possible stall division; however the floor, doors and windows have all been renewed. The barn and pigsties have had no renovation and largely survive in unaltered original (albeit decrepit) condition. While generally supporting the assertion from the Conservation Area Appraisal that the earlier buildings are of limestone and brick is not generally used until the 20th century, the barn and pigsties are particularly interesting because they employ a fusion of these building materials. Brick is used in the west- and south-facing (warmer) walls of the barn, while it is also employed in the exterior enclosure walls of the pigsties.