NHER 52746 (Building record) - Cowshed at Beech Tree Farm

March 2009. Building Survey.
Level 2 survey of agricultural building prior to its conversion.
Cowshed, aligned north-south and built entirely of brick. The western and southern elevations were of Monk bond whilst the eastern wall was Flemish bond. The northern gable had been re-skinned, although its original internal face remained. An open-fronted structure had been added to the southern gable, and a small potting shed had been appended to the eastern elevation. A series of ceramic pipes protruded from the eastern elevation approximately 1.5m from the ground and were angled towards the ground ast a 45 degree angle. An inscription reading 'J Wooltorton, I Wooltorton, Bur(a?)h, W.I. Croles, T (C?) Winter, 34, Tavistock Place, London, C Winter, R Wolltorton, Toft, S Wooltorton, September 1832' was chiselled into the brickwork at the northern end of the eastern elevation. The pitched roof was pantiles with glass pantiles arranged at intervals to allow more light ito the building. A single doorway was present on the re-skinned northern gable, which may or may not have been original. A window had been inserted into the eastern elevation almost certainly after the building had ceased to be used as a cowshed. Three further windows were positioned along the western elevation, and between these windows were two stable- style doors. Another stable- style entrance was recorded in the southern gable. This wall had also been whitewashed. Internally the building retained a number of original fixtures and fittings, including remnents of a water cooling system and tethering ropes and attachment bars.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.157).
S. Howard (HES), 29 March 2012. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.