Bank barn

A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one area at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. The second level of a bank barn also could be accessed from a ramp if a hill was not available.

Examples of bank barns can be found in the United Kingdom, in the US, in eastern Canada, in Norway, in the Dordogne in France and in Umbria, Italy, amongst other places.

Bank barns in the United Kingdom

Bank barns are especially common in the upland areas of Britain, in Northumberland and Cumbria in northern England and in Devon in the south-west.

History

The origins of bank barns in the UK are obscure. The bank barn had made its first appearance in Cumbria by the 1660s on the farms of wealthy farmers: here farmers bought drove cattle from Scotland and fattened them over winter before selling them in spring. The bank barn at Townend Farm, Troutbeck in former Cumberland was built for the prominent Browne family in 1666. The great majority of bank barns were built in Cumbria between 1750 and 1860, and the last were built just before the First World War.

Bank Barn

Bank Barn was item #2219 on the New Jersey State Historic Register, a timber bank barn located at 207 Mountain Ave in Pequannock, NJ.

History

Pequannock's Banked Barn was built of stone and timber into the foothills of the New Jersey Highlands overlooking the Pequannock Valley. The traditional banked design allows access to multiple levels within the barn from ground level on the outside, as the foundation is cut into a slope.

Located on private property, the barn fell into disrepair and finally collapsed inward in 2010. The foundation and collapsed walls remain at the site as of 2012.

The structure was added to the New Jersey Historic Register on July 29, 1981.

Since the 1970s the property has been privately owned by the Cook, Jones, and Harris families respectively. As of 2012 the property had changed hands to the McGrogan family.

Significance

Bank Barn presents historic significance to the region as it was one of the few remaining structures of its kind. The barn's design demonstrated the pioneering ingenuity of early settlers who, faced with an un-plowable hillside and lack of motorized winch and lift systems, utilized the landscape to their benefit through constructing a second floor that they could simply drive up to.