Pockerley Farmbuildings, Beamish, County Durham. Historic Building Recording

The photographic recording of the redundant buildings complex was undertaken to accompany a written description in January 2023, using digital photography. All elevations were photographed as far as possible face-on and from a consistent height and perspective. Where possible, all record photographs included a scaled ranging pole. Where it was not possible to capture an entire elevation in a single photograph because of the constricted nature of the site, a series of partial elevations were recorded along with an oblique overall view of the full elevation. A search was made for maps, documents and historic photographs which could shed light on the development and history of the buildings, but to date little has been found other than a late 18th or early 19th century Plan of Beamish and Pockerley (Illus. 02 on next page), a rather lass reliable and somewhat puzzling Urpeth Tithe plan of 1846 and the Ordnance Survey series dating from the 1850s. A 'Plan of the Manour of Beamish ... Belonging to William Davison Esqr.' by - Thompson, 1739 (Ref: D/XP 1) includes only land to the northwest of Foulbridge Farm, so excludes Pockerley. The Beamish South Moor Inclosure plan: 'Plan of Beamish South Moor in the Parish of Chesterle- Street ... as the same is divided according to an Act of Parliament of the xliii George III', 1810 Includes: 'Plan of 'Waste Land near the Village of Tanfield' (Q/D/E 1(2)) is not held by Durham Archives and has not been traces elsewhere. A 'Plan of land in Beamish and Pockerley belonging to Davison', dated 1739 (D/XP 72-73) also excludes Pockerley, which lies to the south-east of the area covered. Other possibilities such as deposited plans relating to railways or mines in the area, as deeds and wills could provide additional information, but would require a more detailed search of the collections held by Durham Records Office, Durham University Special Collections and the National Archives than has been possible within the scope of the current investigation. A programme of building recording has been carried out on redundant farm-buildings associated with Pockerley Farmhouse in advance of their proposed conversion for combined use as a pottery and café within the Beamish Openair Museum complex. This largely-derelict complex of buildings forming the southern of two ranges east of the partmedieval farmhouse comprises a barn (The North Range) with attached West and East Ranges enclosing a yard to the south, the latter abutting the west end of an apparently older South- East Range. Based on historic research and reading of the current fabric of the buildings, there is a possibility that the farm-buildings under investigation contain earlier built masonry within, and a stronger possibility that the steading contains reused building materials from structures once associated with the adjacent farmhouse. No documentary references have been found relating to the farm-buildings and the earliest map so far traced is a 'Plan of Beamish and Pockerley' which probably dates to later 18th or early 19th century before 1812. This appears to show a group of buildings on the same footprint as on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of c. 1857 which shows the footprint of the group again much as it is today, except for the presence of an engine house built in the first half of the 19th century at the east end of the North Range. The character of the quoins and gable copings of the South-East Range suggest that this is the earliest building in the complex, probably of later 18th century date. The other buildings are likely to be of the mid-19th century, though the better-quality quoins and dressings of the West Range look a little more recent than those of the North and East Ranges. The North Range clearly pre-dated the Engine House which was already present by 1857.