NHER 55916 (Building record) - Late 18th century cattle shed at Grange Farm

January 2011. Building Survey.
Level II historic building survey of catle shed at Grange Farm completed prior to the proposed conversion of this structure.
The building’s clay lump construction indicates that it is no earlier than late 18th century in date and its relationship with the threshing barn (NHER 55915) suggests a date of post-1850, based on the various window openings it obscures and its dependence upon the large barn for it northern wall. The building retains few of its original fixtures and fittings but based on its design there are two possibilities for its original use. The first is as an implement shed as suggested by its open western face which is ideal for storing carts, ploughs and other equipment. However the southern cell appears to have been used for housing livestock to be kept apart from equipment and therefore it seems more plausible that the building had originally been a shelter shed for cattle with a separate cell at one end for calving mothers or their young. Shelter sheds were often built as an informal way to protect the livestock from the worst of the weather during the winter months. Feed and bedding could be housed within the shed which faced onto an open yard in which the animals could move freely around.
See report (S1) for further details.
See NHER 40398 and NHER 55915 for information on the other buildings examined as part of this survey.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.508).
S. Howard (HES), 12 August 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 May 2019.