Young Curly Brunette Girl With A Navel Piercing Posing In The Barn With A Hay

Clues determining their age and historical use can be found from old maps, sale documents, estate plans and visually inspecting the building itself, e.g. reused timbers, former floors, partitions, doors and windows.
The arrangement of the buildings within the 'farmstead' can also yield valuable information on the historical farm usage and landscape value. Linear farmsteads were typical of small farms, where there was an advantage to having cattle and fodder within one building, due to the colder climate. Dispersed clusters of unplanned groups were more widespread. Loose courtyard plans built around a yard were associated with bigger farms, whereas carefully designed courtyard plans designed to minimize waste and labour were built in the latter part of the 18th century.
The barns are typically the oldest and biggest buildings to be found on the farm. Many barns were converted into cow houses and fodder processing and storage buildings after the 1880s.
The stable is typically the second-oldest building type on the farm. They were well built and placed near the house due to the value that the horses had as draught animals