Retention and conservation of traditional farm buildings on Mayo farm

Anne O’Malley highlights the Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme, offering grants to farmers to restore historic structures sustainably.

At Margaret Lundy’s farm in Charlestown, Co. Mayo, she saw how the scheme revitalised a 1900s granary, preserving its heritage and showcasing sustainable restoration in action.

About the scheme

The Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme was established in 2008 by the Heritage Council in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The principal objective of this scheme is to ensure that traditional functional active farm buildings, which are a visual picture of our past agricultural and vernacular history, are retained, repaired and conserved for their cultural and environmental value.

This on-farm scheme promotes peer-to-peer learning on sustainable building practices, using traditional skills, crafts and local materials. There is a competitive application process and only a small number of applications are approved every year and the key message is minimum intervention, only fix or repair what is needed, recycle and retain and conserve farm building for future generations.

DAFM makes all grant payments on this scheme following certification by the Heritage Council. A grant award will not be for more than 75% of the cost of the works up to a maximum available grant of €30,000. The scheme is only open to farmers participating in and accepted into ACRES, Organics and participants in European Innovation Partnerships, so a farmer must check first to see if they are eligible to apply. This annual scheme opens in March of each year and while the scheme is now closed you can view the most recent information pack and further information.

On the ground

I recently visited Margaret Lundy’s farm in Charlestown, who completed works on a granary under the Traditional Farm Buildings grant scheme. The building consists of a cow-byre with a granary above it and a smaller building to the left which was used to house pigs.

The granary dates back to the 1900s and was built with the support of a grant scheme available at the time and the space was originally used for grain storage. These buildings are the history of people and place and the agricultural practices of the past.

Figure 1: The before and after of the granary on Margaret Lundy's farm

Both buildings have beautiful intact flagstone floors, the steps up to the granary had to be rebuilt and the floor of the granary had to be replaced, apart from one original tree beam which was intact. The walls were repaired, whitewashed with traditional hot lime mix and the whole building was re-pointed and re-roofed. A bat entrance has been modified in the gable wall and spacing left over each of the three doors allows access for wildlife.

Margaret expressed her gratitude to the Department of Agriculture, Anna Meenan from the Heritage Council, Áine Doyle from Louisburgh, conservation supervisor, and Jimmy Murphy, contractor and skilled stonemason, for their expert advice and support with this on-farm project.

As Margaret said: "It took a lot of hard work, but I am delighted to see this building brought back to its original beauty."

Native Woodland Scheme

A previous initiative to add value and generate additional income on this farm was the planting of native woodland under the Native Woodland Scheme (NWS) in 2011. The NWS was funded under the National Development Plan (NDP) 2007–2013 and implemented by the Forest Service of the DAFM in partnership with several agencies, including the Heritage Council.

A key element of this scheme was the retention of biodiversity and habitats, including traditional buildings. The NWS provided support for landowners to protect and enhance existing native woodlands and to establish new ones.Find out more about current forestry grants. Contact Noel Kennedy, Forestry Advisor for Mayo, Roscommon and Galway.

This farm is also hosting a broadleaf silviculture research trial alongside the native woodland, with Scots pine and oak planted in alternating lines. This trial assesses the impact of planting Scots pine with oak and monitors the growth pattern of the oak. The attached photo shows a plot on the left where the oak was planted four years after the Scots pine, and a plot on the right with pure oak planted at the same time as the Scots pine in the opposite plot. For further information on this trial, please contact Teagasc researcher Ian Short.

At this time of year, all farmers and landowners are considering different enterprise options for generating income, and the Teagasc Options Programme may be of interest to you.