Farmstead buildings
The High Weald was settled by individual farmers - leading to a pattern of scattered, remote farmsteads. Today, these holdings still contain a rich heritage of distinctive farm buildings: structures that add a human dimension to the landscape - and provide clues about farming traditions long passed - oast houses, for example, reflect an activity confined to a limited area: the hop-growing lands of the Eastern Weald.
The area's traditional farm buildings are typically simple, straightforward buildings constructed by local workmen. They were built to be functional - designed above all to shelter and protect - though often with great inventiveness and attention to detail. They were not built to be charming or characterful: these are attributes that we have attached to them in modern times.
Traditional farm buildings are locally distinctive. They reflect the building materials available nearby - in the case of the High Weald, wood, brick and sandstone - and they allow us a glimpse of past local farming practices.
In the South East, due to the variety of the underlying geology (and, therefore, soils) some areas practising very different forms of agriculture lie right next to each other. This is apparent in the form of the farm buildings. For example, on the Downs, large barns stored arable crops and sheds sheltered animals producing manure for the fields - while in the adjoining Weald, large numbers of cattle houses and yards reflected the importance of cattle breeding and fattening.
Today, many farm buildings are no longer used for their original purpose. However, it is not always easy to convert them to homes or work places whilst at the same time retaining those features which give the buildings their distinctive agricultural identity. It is hoped that a knowledge of how the farm buildings were originally used and how farm building form relates to function - combined with a greater understanding of the distinctiveness of local farmstead layout - will lead to more sensitive development in future.
Barns in the High Weald
Barns are the dominant building of Wealden farmsteads. A barn for storing and processing the harvested corn crop over the winter months was the basic requirement of Weald farms, and... Read more
Oasthouses in the Weald
A building in which hops are dried and stored, usually 19th century in date and detached from the main group in order to minimise the fire risk. It comprises a... Read more
The Farmhouse
In almost all cases the farmhouse is detached from the main group and faces into its own garden. Separate cottages for farm workers, and single-storey huts for seasonal workers in... Read more
Granaries
Once the hard work of threshing had been done, the grain was too precious to leave in the barn for any length of time. In South and East England... Read more
Working spaces and yards
Spaces provide a context and setting for the buildings and are as important as the buildings themselves to farmstead character. They can be very sensitive to change. Read more
Dairies
The liquid milk trade was very restricted before the late 19th century: in the dairy, milk was converted to butter and cheese - products with much better keeping qualities. The... Read more
