Lowery Barn is one of the few remaining substantial
relics of the farms which existed in the Upper Meavy Valley before Burrator
Reservoir was built. It was used as forestry store after Lowery farm was
handed over by the last recorded tenant, a Mr William Hamlyn, was required
to hand over part of the leasehold to the Plymouth Corporation in 1897
ahead of the valley being flooded. All the other farm buildings at Lowery
have disappeared. This barn is of a type called a chamber barn, where
various functions are all housed under one roof. In this case there was
a shippen (for cattle) and calves’ houses with feed passages on
the ground floor. The projections from the inner walls, called corbels,
supported the joists of the upper floor which would have been used as
a threshing floor. There is a date on a tablet uner the eaves showing
that it was built in 1873, another tablet bears the initials M.L. showing
this to be one the many holdings in the locality owned by Sir Massey Lopes
of Maristow and rented out to tenant farmers. Due to its importance as
a unique landmark in the Burrator historic landscape, it was considered
that the barn was worthy of preservation to ensure its long-term survival.
The barn was therefore consolidated and re-roofed as part of South West
Lakes Trust’s three year Burrator Historic and Natural Environment
Project. This commenced in July 2013 and was funded by the Heritage Lottery
Fund, South West Water, Biffa Award, Dartmoor Sustainable Development
Fund, West Devon Borough Council and South West Lakes Trust. |