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THE SOUTH MOLTON LINHAY PROJECT - Sally Cotton (Newsletter No 4 2002)
At the request of South Molton Town Council, the Society has been surveying the many small field barns around the town. These buildings are a distinctive feature of the area within 2 miles of the market town, usually set near a gateway into a small pasture field. RCHME defines a linhay as ‘a double-storeyed open-sided structure comprising a cattle or cart shelter on the ground floor with a hayloft above. Most common in South West England.’ Not all the buildings we are studying quite fit this definition - they vary in size, aspect, construction and plan - but they all provide ground floor shelter for stock or machinery and first floor storage space for fodder.
Working in conjunction with the Town Council, North Devon District Council and Devon County Council, our brief is to study the Linhays in Town Council ownership, survey what is currently there, try to determine original uses, and offer suggestions for future use. Like all small agricultural buildings, these diminutive barns have become increasingly redundant for modern farming practice. Many have been lost since the 1886 six inch OS maps of the area were published and many of those remaining are in poor states of repair. However even those in the last throes of decline are super wildlife habitats. All are attractive buildings and a joy to study. So much so that we plan to study those owned by other farmers in the area.
We are having great fun convening at an unsuspecting linhay, discussing its history and its current and possible future charms. Most are stone built, with greater or lesser amounts of cob, under slate or corrugated roofs, though we have foundone completely built of concrete blocks. To generalise, they seem to have been built to store the hay harvested from the fields in which they stand, to provide shelter for stock and sometimes facilities for milking. It is the opinion of some local people that those on the roads into town were provided for the use of those bringing stock to South Molton Market. The sheep or cattle would be turned into the small fields to wait overnight for market morning. Alternatively those coming into town could leave their horse transport in these ‘carparks’ before walking the short distance into town. The grass provided grazing in summer, the hay fodder in winter.
What is the linhays’ future? Some are too fargone to be described as more than a pile of stones. One has been turned very skilfully into a charming cottage. Between these two extremes, apart from their traditional uses, what can we suggest? Those about to be swallowed up in our new industrial estate have been claimed by the developers as useful secure stores for commercial enterprises. Those near roads might be given new life as houses. It is the ones in the middle of nowhere, with no current role, that are most at risk of decay and neglect. It is the Town Council’s policy to preserve as many as possible, but a building without a use and purpose is a sad thing, doomed to die.
Copyright © 2007 North Devon Archaeological Society