Listed Building: Dovecote at Ridgeway Farm (1392410)

'REPTON 1792/0/10005 Dovecote at Ridgeway Farm 22-FEB-08 GV II Dovecote with integral cart shed, empty at the time of inspection (December 2007) MATERIALS: Red brick with coped gables, plain stone kneelers, dentilled eaves course and a plain tile roof covering, cupola and weathervane. EXTERIOR: the building is roughly square on plan, with a ground floor cart shed and a dovecote chamber above, accessed by means of a hinged trap door in the north-east corner. A double door opening to the front(north)wall set below a chamfered lintel beam has lost its double doors. There is a small shuttered opening to the upper floor of the west gable. The roof incorporates a small cupola with 2 tiers of perch shelves, arched openings to each face, a moulded cornice and a shallow pyramidal roof surmounted by a decorative metal weathervane. A C20 corrugated sheet open shed erected against the south elevation is not of special interest. INTERIOR: Former cart shed has a substantial spine beam and exposed joists to ceiling supporting the dovecote floor. The walls of the dovecote loft incorporate continuous brick perch shelves and regulartly spaced nesting holes. The roof rafters and cupola are supported by a truncated queen post truss and 2 tiers of side purlins. HISTORY: the site of Ridgeway Farm is shown as undeveloped on a village plan of 1762, the 'Ridgeway Field' being subdivided into individual strips. The dovecote was built in the late C18 or early C19. A parish map of 1829 shows the dovecote as part of the farmstead in its present configuration, with the farmhouse to the east side of a north-south track and the farm buildings and dovecote to the west side. The 1882 Ordnance Survey maps shows the same configuration. The dovecote and integral cart shed forms a group with Ridgeway Farmhouse (q.v.) REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The dovecote with integral cart shed at Ridgeway Farm, Repton is listed for the following principal reasons: * Map evidence indicates that the building was constructed c.1800 or earlier as part of a farmstead developed following the enclosure of Repton's open fields, known to have occurred in 1769. * The building is a well-preserved example of a distinctive vernacular building type recognised as an important component of farmsteads and country estates from the medieval period to the late C19. * It is a near complete example of its type which has suffered little significant alteration and which retains the internal features characteristic of the building type. * The building remains part of the farmstead it was designed to serve and may still be appreciated in its original context, having a strong visual association with the listed farmhouse. SK3129626055.'