Sockburn Hall, Darlington: an archaeological ... - English Heritage

Figure 30. The brickbuilt
extension, pigsties
and ‘poultiggery’ at the
southern end of the farm
buildings (© C J Dunn)
building stone, the arches show no signs of the damage that would result from such
a process, and instead demonstrate a quality of construction, matched by the coping
along the gables above,which is entirely in keeping with the stonework of the new hall.
Incongruous though they may first appear, these doorways are perfectly acceptable
examples of the neo-Jacobean architecture which the Blacketts used to such great
effect for the hall itself - indeed the porch above the main doorway to the hall uses
exactly the same form of arch. It seems probable, therefore, that the row was either
constructed or significantly enhanced in the early 19th century in order to provide a
balance of scenic and practical benefits – as an eye-catcher facing the hall and repeating
its architectural motifs, and as a shelter for the grazing animals required to maintain
the character and function of the park.
The row is surrounded by patterns of wear, areas of dumped material and traces of
small enclosures,and the oldest,stone-built,parts of the long range contain numerous
blocked and altered openings - all indications of prolonged and varied use. The park
boundary formerly curved inwards to the south of the row, where the bridle way
( ) entered the park (Figures 15 and 17), suggesting that these buildings remained
accessible from the farmland to the west up to the end of the century. A small railed
enclosure still occupies the space between the row and the western park boundary,
but another enclosure, shown at the south-west corner of the park on the 1898 map
(Figure 17), is now only visible as a slight earthwork ( ). The row was extended in
several stages southwards towards the end of the 19th century, adding further brick-
built store rooms and pigsties, with lofts above, and terminating in a ‘poultiggery’ - a
piggery with hen-houses above (Lake & Edwards 2006,63,70) - complete with a chimney
and a fireplace for boiling swill (Figure 30). Later adaptations, toward the middle of
the 20th century, expanded the use of the row as a piggery (see Section 4.5 below).
The supply of water to the farm buildings was initially provided by pump (Figure 15)
ENGLISH HERITAGE Sockburn