A linhay ( ) is a type of farm building found particularly in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

. 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. 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 fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation (food), fermentation to the point of souring. It is fed to cattle, sheep and other ruminants. The fermentation and storage process is called ''ensilage'', ' ...

, 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 Marsh in Devon.

North America

In Newfoundland English 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.

References

* Agricultural buildings in England {{UK-archaeology-stub

North America

See also

References