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Summary

Description

Possibly dating from the later to late-18^th century, Greenfield barn is a single-storey, cruck-framed barn with a red corrugated iron roof and three rooflights. Its walls are battered with a boulder base and constructed in random, rubble stone. The walls are harled and have triangular vents in the east and west elevations. There is a single entrance opening in the west elevation and a larger opening with a two-leaf, timber door in the east elevation.

Internally, the barn has jointed and pegged crucks set into the wall and ending above ground. Five cruck blades support a ridge pole and trunk purlins (possibly made out of birch, larch or Scots pine). Replacement timber planks support the cruck framework in places. A large entrance opening with ledged, braced doors in the north elevation lead into the adjoining Nissen hut. There are two parallel byres to the east of the cruck-framed barn (one slated and the other in a similar Nissen hut-style) dating from the 20^th century.

Historical background

Greenfield was a substantial township in the 18^th century, which was largely, but not completely, abandoned in the 1790s and re-occupied as an agricultural settlement in the 1840s-1850s (Highland Historic Environment Record, MHG29829). Greenfield is shown on an estate map of 1840, to the east of the Greenfield Burn, a tributary of Loch Garry.

Greenfield was a tenanted farm on the Glengarry estate. The estate was historically owned by the MacDonnells of Glengarry and was sold to the Marquis of Huntly in 1836. In 1860 the Glengarry estate was bought by Edward Ellice MP and added to his Highland sporting estate portfolio. The farm at Greenfield was a sheep farm and raised the Cheviot breed with the capacity for a supplementary stock of cattle. The farm included meadow land and arable land (Inverness Courier, 12 May 1870). Newspaper advertisements from the 1870s and 1880s indicate that Greenfield Farm was let as one holding together with the neighbouring Garrygualach Farm to the west.

Statement of Special Interest

The barn at Greenfield is one of a very small number of surviving buildings in Scotland with a cruck-frame and is a rare example of a pre-Improvement period agricultural barn.

While some later fabric has been added, such as the corrugated iron roof, cement render and additional timbers to support the roof covering, overall there is a significant amount of surviving original fabric, demonstrating traditional vernacular building techniques.

The building's relationship with its setting is typical for its building type and is of special interest in listing terms. The barn forms part of a complex of later agricultural buildings at Greenfield Farm and is built into the landscape to the south.

The barn shows traditional construction techniques and retains a substantial amount of later 18^th century fabric, including timber-pegged cruck blades. This example has been adapted over time, in particular to the pitch of the roof when the original thatched roof was replaced with corrugated iron, importantly, however, the trusses remain in their mural slots. The positioning of the doors opposite each other on the east and west elevations suggest the building was used as a threshing barn (Highland Historic Environment Record, MHG29828).

Cruck framing was a building technique used throughout Scotland prior to the agricultural improvement era, with the exception of the Islands where timber was scarce. This method of construction was made obsolete when improvements in transportation routes made standardised building materials cheaper and more widely available. As a result, surviving examples of cruck-framed buildings are now very rare.

The structure of this barn is not constructed of large curved timbers, but the term cruck-framed is nevertheless accurate as it can also mean 'smaller timbers jointed and pegged together to form a continuous support'. (Walker, MacGregor and Little, p.126). The building now forms part of a complex with later agricultural buildings and a Nissen hut style barn with a corrugated iron roof is now adjoined to the north elevation of the cruck-framed barn.

Supplementary information in the listed building record revised in 2021.

References

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