Top Ten Endangered Buildings 2021: Minley Home Farm, Hampshire, Unlisted, Arthur Castings, 1896

Minley Home Farm was once part of the sprawling Minley Manor Estate. It was completed circa 1896 to the designs of Arthur Castings, associate to the renowned George Devey, who worked on other buildings in the estate. The model farmstead was designed to reflect farming changes during the agricultural depression when arable land was converted to livestock use after cheap imports from America caused wheat prices to plummet. The farm includes a dairy, pigsties, bull boxes, and calf and cow boxes.

The farm is particularly rare because, as a result of the depression, few farm buildings were constructed during the late 19th century.

The Manor house itself has found new owners, but the farm, and thousands of acres of surrounding land are still owned by the Ministry of Defence, which acquired the manor and its estates in 1935.

The farm buildings are now in a precarious state. In January of this year the MoD submitted plans to demolish the farm. In a letter to the Secretary of State for Defence the Victorian Society urged a rethink of the plan highlighting the farm’s architectural and historical significance, as well as the environmental and financial costs associated with demolition and the mooted replacement. SAVE Britain’s Heritage took legal action to block the demolition under permitted development rights and made a listing application which the Victorian Society is supporting.

Griff Rhys Jones said: “Years of neglect have taken their toll on this model farm, but there is still hope. Gaining listed status would help protect the farm in the first instance. Agricultural buildings from this part of the Victorian period are rare, and the farm’s unique architecture and location with a larger heritage context mean that it needs to be preserved. The owner of the nearby manor is keen to buy the farm, and with its location in stunning countryside on the edge of the MOD’s land, with relatively easy public access, make redevelopment feasible – if only the MOD would sell rather than demolish.”

Picture Credits: Liam Heatherson (www.BeyondthePoint.co.uk)

Download Images: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BKuM3cm7i9K9ikQ36

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