Dutch barn
Common features of these barns include a core structure composed of a steep gabled roof, supported by purlin plates and anchor beam posts, the floor and stone piers below.
[citation needed] Large beams of pine or oak bridge the center aisle for animals to provide room for threshing.
In the United Kingdom a structure called a Dutch barn is a relatively recent agricultural development meant specifically for hay and straw storage; most examples were built from the 19th century.
Schoharie County Historian Harold Zoch regularly speaks on Dutch barns.
[6] The exterior features a broad gable roof, which, in early Dutch barns extended very low to the ground.
Dutch barns often lacked windows and had no openings other than the doors and holes for purple martins to enter.
[5] Another distinctive feature of the Dutch barn is that the ends of the cross beams protrude through the columns.
Dutch barns have been identified in southwestern Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky in the United States Midwest.
Processing comprised hand-threshing (later in history replaced by machine threshing): the grain would then be removed to a granary for permanent storage.
As the weather in the U.K. is often wet, several different types of hay barns evolved, but all shared certain characteristics: they were roofed and well-ventilated.
The roof kept off the rain but the lack of walls allowed good ventilation around the hay and prevented spoiling.
[10] Due to their ease of construction these structures are often considered temporary and appear and disappear in the landscape; the interval is often determined by the life of the pole upright or the corrugated iron roof.
