Late 19th century Ordnance Survey maps (c1985) provide an effective baseline for understanding the historic form of the farmstead, at the end of a major period of investment in farmstead buildings. There was some building on Weald farmsteads between the 1880s and the Second World War, mainly on estates and in the form of dairies conforming to national standards for public health and hygiene.

The next major phase in building, which occurred from the 1950s, was marked by the construction of standardised sheds and concreted working areas which broke away from the largely traditional forms inherited from centuries of change.

You can use historic maps to explore more of the history, plan form and survival of individual farmsteads.

English Heritage and the High Weald AONB Unit have mapped the plan form of all historic farmsteads across the High and Low Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex using a method of rapid characterisation. The information for each site includes plan form, date and assessment of change between the late 19th century 2nd edition Ordnance Survey maps and the present.

Comparing an individual site to summary data for the High and Low Weald will indicate how rare or representative the farmstead is of the Weald's settlement character.

See also

Information on farm buildings
Information on farm building layout