Farmstead and Building Types

Distinctive types of farmsteads and buildings developed across England in order to:

These key functions were all subject to a huge amount of regional and local variation, and depending on the size and type of farm required:

Users who want more information on farmstead types can download the following guidance for mapping farmsteads (PDF document to follow)

A key product of most farmsteads was manure, a mixture of dung, straw and other bedding material which was returned to fertilise the surrounding farmland. Cattle Yard
A barn for storing and processing the harvested corn crop over the winter months was the basic requirement of most farms. The large farms of corn-producing areas developed around cattle yards, sheltered by barns and with the large teams of horses and carting corn and manure reflected in the size of stabling, cartsheds and granaries for the seed corn. This reconstruction (not to scale) shows the flow of processes in the arable cycle from the stackyard (1). After the grain was beaten (threshed) from the harvested corn crop in the barn (2), the grain was taken to a granary (3) and the straw to cattle yards (6), shelter sheds (4) and stables (5) to be used as bedding for livestock. The flow of processes in the arable cycle from the stackyard
Dairying and stock-rearing farms, on the other hand, required smaller barns, stables and cartsheds, but often a diversity of cattle housing, dairies (usually within the house) and pigsties for feeding off the dairy waste. This drawing of an L-plan farmstead on the Cheshire Plain shows (as broad arrows) the entry points of hay brought from the surrounding fields, the manure from cattle housed on the ground floor being forked into the yard. The pigsty is located close to the dairy, the waste from which fed the pigs. (Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Plain)
© English Heritage		 Dairying and stock-rearing farms

Farmstead Types

The scale and form of farmstead types are subject to much variation and are closely related to local tradition, farm size and status, terrain and land use – including the extent to which they served farms of either mixed, arable or pastoral types. Buildings could be detached or interlinked, but in all cases respond to areas of access to, within and around the site - trackways to surrounding fields and local markets, ponds and cart washes, areas for the movement of vehicles and animals, yards for the management of livestock (particularly cattle yards) and the platforms where hay and corn would be stacked, the latter prior to threshing in the barn. The house could be accessed through and face into the yard or it could be built or adapted to face away from the yard into its own private area, sometimes with a separate entrance.

Despite an infinite range of variations, there are a limited number of farmstead types that are marked by their dominant form and character – whether they are set out as linear or parallel ranges, have a dispersed character or are set in loose or regular fashion around one or more yards.

The basic range of farmstead types are set out below. 3D images, photographs and further guidance are found under the glossary, which can be accessed by clicking on each heading.

Dispersed plans, which have no focal yard area and where the buildings are clustered, set out around multiple dispersed yards or sited along a track.
Loose courtyard plans, where mostly detached buildings have developed in piecemeal fashion around one or more sides of an open cattle yard.
Regular courtyard plans, where buildings are carefully planned as linked ranges and often result from a single phase of building. Farmsteads can be arranged as full courtyard, L-, U-, and E-plan arrangements, always with one or more yards for the collection of manure.
Linear plans where houses and working buildings are attached and in-line, and which are now most common in northern and western pastoral areas. Sometimes a range of working buildings would be placed opposite the linear range of house and buildings, making a parallel plan.

All these buildings responded to the working areas within and around the farmstead and the farmhouse - trackways to surrounding fields and local markets, ponds and cart washes, the areas for the movement of vehicles and animals, the accommodation of animals and the platforms where hay and corn would be stacked, the latter prior to threshing in the barn. The size of the areas for stacking corn (known as rickyards or stackyards) varied according to local custom and the extent of arable crops kept on the farm. The house could be accessed through and face into the yard or it could be built or adapted to face away from the yard into its own private area, sometimes with a separate entrance.

The scale and form of farmstead types are subject to much variation and are closely related to farm size and status, terrain and land use - specifically in the way in which they served farms of either mixed, arable or pastoral types. It was far more common for the houses on farms in northern and western England to be attached to multifunctional ranges of farm buildings. By contrast, even small farms in the South East and East Anglia were characterised by detached houses and separate buildings, often loosely arranged around the sides of a yard. The basic types, all with many variations on these themes, are linear plans, parallel and L-shaped plans, dispersed plans, loose courtyard plans and regular courtyard plans.

Linear plans

Linear plans, where houses and farm buildings are attached, are ideally suited to small farms (usually stock rearing and dairying) and are concentrated in north and west England. They are an especially common feature in northern pastoral areas where little corn was grown and where cattle were housed indoors over the long winters (November to May). There was an obvious advantage in having cattle and their fodder (primarily hay) in one enclosed building. They display a wide range in scale, from large farmsteads of independent Pennine yeoman-farmers to the smallholdings of miner-farmers. They include laithe houses and longhouses.

They have often evolved as a result of gradual development, and will often be associated with loose scatters or yard arrangements of other farm buildings.

A Linear plan
House and farm building attached and in line.This is the plan form of the medieval longhouse but in upland areas of the country in particular it was used on small farmsteads up to the 19th century.		 Linear Plan
An isolated linear farmstead standing within a landscape of regular fields bounded by dry stone walls and with scattered field barns. (Bowland Fells)
© Countryside Agency / Mike Williams		 An isolated linear farmstead
Although linear plan farmsteads are not common in the West Midlands, there are a small number of longhouses and later linear ranges such as this in-line house, barn cow house and stable, probably dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. (Oswestry Uplands) A linear plan farmstead
A linear farmstead (Yorkshire Dales). To the right of the house is a granary above a single-bay cartshed. To the left is a large combination barn, with a loft for hay, corn and a threshing floor above a cowhouse and stable. © English Heritage A Linear farmstead (Yorkshire Dales)
A variant bank barn (built across the slope) forming part of a linear farmstead in Weardale. Such linear ranges were typical of upland farms and farms where agriculture and industry were combined. (North Pennines) A variant bank barn

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Dispersed Plans

Dispersed plans comprise clusters and unplanned groupings of separate buildings, sometimes intermixed with those of other farms. They range from those of hamlets where the buildings of different owners can be intermixed, to large-scale individual farmsteads. Some can be large-scale and high status.

Dispersed plan
Within this small hamlet the farm buildings of the two farmsteads are intermixed, with no evidence of planning in their layout or relationship to the farmhouses. Dispersed plans are also found on single farmsteads where the farm buildings are haphazardly arranged around the farmhouse.		 Dispersed plan
Dispersed plan
A dispersed plan in the High Weald of Kent with footpaths running through the site. © High Weald AONB Unit		 Dispersed plan

Loose courtyard plans

In loose courtyard plans the buildings are built around a yard, with or without scatters of other farm buildings. The largest are associated with high status or large arable farms, but small farms could often have a working building facing into just one side of a yard.

A larger loose courtyard plan of the type that developed in the southern English chalklands from the 15th to the 19th centuries. This reconstruction (not to scale) shows the flow of processes in the arable cycle from the stackyard (1), through the barn (2) to the granary (3), shelter shed (4), stable (5) and yard (6).
© English Heritage (RCHME)		 Reconstruction of the flow of processes
Loose courtyard
Detached buildings arranged around a yard. In this example the yard is enclosed by agricultural buildings on all four sides with the farmhouse set to one side. On smaller farms the farmhouse may form one side of the yard, which may have agricultural buildings to only one or two of the remaining sides.		 Loose courtyard
Loose courtyard
A loose courtyard plan in the Shropshire Hills, with buildings to 3 sides of the yard.		 Loose courtyard

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Regular courtyard plans

Regular courtyard plans, where the various functions were carefully placed in relation to one another in order to minimise the waste of labour, and where the manure could be conserved, were recommended from the mid-18th century. The earliest surviving groups date from the 1790s. They are generally associated with holdings over 150 acres, and include the planned and model farms built for estates. The earlier examples are courtyard or U-plan with the barn forming the central block, and shelter sheds, stables and enclosed cow houses the two side wings. From the 1820s and 1830s, extra yards made E or even double-E plans.

Shobrooke Barton, Devon (Devon Redlands). A characteristic scene in Devon with the barton or manor farm built around a courtyard located next to the parish church in a locally prominent position and isolated from other settlement.
© Bob Edwards		 Shobrooke Barton, Devon (Devon Redlands)
Regular courtyard L-plan
Two attached ranges form a regular L-shape. The farmhouse is detached from the agricultural buildings.		 Regular courtyard L-plan
Regular courtyard U-plan
The yard, in this example divided into two parts, is framed by three connected ranges. Again, the farmhouse is detached.		 Regular courtyard U-plan
Full regular courtyard
The yard is enclosed on all sides by buildings including, in this example, the farmhouse. Other examples are formed by agricultural buildings on all sides with the farmhouse built to one side.		 Full regular courtyard
Regular courtyard E-plan
This plan form (and variations of it with additional ranges) may be found on some of the larger planned farmsteads where livestock were a major part of the agricultural system. Cattle were housed in the arms of E the ‘back’ of which provided space for fodder storage and processing.		 Regular courtyard E-plan
A large regular courtyard plan (North Northumberland Coastal Plain Character Area), dating from the early to mid-19th century and placed within a landscape affected by large-scale reorganisation and enclosure from the 18th century.This large farmstead was devoted to fatstock housing and incorporates three open yards lined with hemmels and a covered yard with a root store (left, with open doors).The farmstead also incorporated a stationary steam engine, which would have powered threshing machines, as well as fodder preparation machines such as chaff cutters and cake breakers. Although rarely built to this scale in the Yorkshire and Humber Region, large regular courtyard farmsteads are concentrated in areas that were similarly affected by reorganisation such as the Yorkshire Wolds and on the Tabular.
© English Heritage		 A large regular courtyard plan
The flow of processes in a Cornish farmstead is shown here (not to scale).The buildings are grouped around a large yard.The proximity between the farmhouse and the pigsties and calf house is evident in this farmstead. (1) stackyard; (2) chall barn; (3) granary; (4) shippons ; (5) farmyard and midden; (6) calf house; (7) pigsties; (8) house and dairy.
© English Heritage (RCHME)		 Reconstruction of the flow of processes
A regular courtyard farmstead, presenting typically blank elevations to the surrounding landscape (Howardian Hills)
328774 © Mr Chris Broadribb Taken as part of the Images of England Project		 Regular courtyard (Howardian Hills)
Regular L-plan including the farmhouse
Such plans can be a development of a linear plan.		 L-plan
An isometric view of an L-plan farmstead on the Cheshire Plain. (Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Plain)
© English Heritage		 An isometric view of an L-plan farmstead on the Cheshire Plain

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