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A linhay ( ) is a type of farm building found particularly in Devon and Somerset, south-west England. It is characterised as a two-storeyed building with an open front, with ''tallet'' or hay-loft above and livestock housing below. It often has a lean-to roof, and the front generally consists of regularly-spaced pillars or columns. Cattle linhays were used to house cattle in the winter with hay storage above. Owing to the wide, open front, hay was easily thrown up into the tallet for storage after hay-making by a man standing on a hay-cart using a
A linhay ( ) is a type of farm building found particularly in Devon and Somerset, south-west England. It is characterised as a two-storeyed building with an open front, with ''tallet'' or hay-loft above and livestock housing below. It often has a lean-to roof, and the front generally consists of regularly-spaced pillars or columns. Cattle linhays were used to house cattle in the winter with hay storage above. Owing to the wide, open front, hay was easily thrown up into the tallet for storage after hay-making by a man standing on a hay-cart using a pitch-fork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
. The hay was kept dry by the roof while at the same time acting as insulation for the livestock below, and was easily fed as daily rations to the cattle below by dropping it through openings in the floor directly into hay racks accessible to the livestock. A cart linhay stored carts and other farm machinery in place of livestock, with hay above.
Linhays are now largely obsolete as in England cattle are generally housed in large pole barns with corrugated iron or plastic roofs and are fed silage
Silage () is a type of fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation to the point of acidification. It can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants (cud-chewing animals). The fermentation and storage ...
, either in large round bales or in troughs, chopped up by machinery. These modern structures make possible feeding and mucking out with large tractors.
A rare form is the circular linhay, found for example on Braunton Burrows
Braunton Burrows is a sand dune system on the North Devon coast. It is privately owned and forms part of the Christie Devon Estates Trust (see Tapeley Park). Braunton Burrows is a prime British sand dune site, the largest sand dune system (psamm ...
in Devon.
North America
InNewfoundland English
Newfoundland English is a term referring to any of several accents and dialects of Atlantic Canadian English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in ...
a ''linney'' is a storage space, kitchen, or porch generally built as an addition at the rear of a house. In American English a ''linhay'' is an open lean-to shed attached to a farm yard.Whitney, William Dwight. "Linhay" ''The Century dictionary; an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language'',. vol. 4. New York: The Century Co., 188991. 3,467. Print.
See also
* Linhay in Barn#Other farm buildings often associated with barnsReferences
* Agricultural buildings in England {{UK-archaeology-stub