Caledon Heritage Foundation presents 2009 barn awards

The Caledon Heritage Foundation has been focusing attention on barns this year, to the point of organizing a contest. The award in the category for Earliest Timber Frame Barns, was presented to Robert and Barbara Downey for their barn, dating to 1880, on Mount Hope Road. The presentation was made by Heather Broadbent, a director with the Foundation and a member of the barn awards subcommittee. Photo by Bill Rea At its recent annual general meeting, the Caledon Heritage Foundation (CHF) announced the winners of the 2009 barn awards.

Each recipient gets a cheque for $500 to assist them in their endeavours to preserve their barns.

In keeping with the theme of Celebrating and Preserving the Barns of Caledon, CHF was pleased to have winners in two of the three categories selected for the 2009 Barn Awards.

Earliest Timber Frame

Barn

The construction of barns was often commemorated with the year being carved into date stones in their foundations or cut out in the gable-end peaks. This CHF award was for the Caledon barn with the earliest date inscribed in either the foundation or gable-end peak, and was presented to Robert and Barbara Downey.

Their barn, located on Mount Hope Road, is a beautifully maintained, timber-frame barn with the date 1880 cut into the gable-end peak.

This is in the newer half of this barn and both parts of the barn are still in use. The farm was settled in 1831 by William Downey of Yorkshire, England. Robert Downey is the fifth generation of the Downey family on this property.

Other barns nominated in this category had dates stone of 1885 and 1886.

Rare Architectural

Element in Historic

Barns

Many barns still entail interesting original elements, such as extraordinarily long timbers, unusual swing beams, unusual ventilators, hand-carved details, exceptionally tall hay ladders, odd hex signs, and cobblestone or flagstone floors.

The CHF award was presented for the most unusual architectural feature and went to two winners, as there was a tie in this category.

One went to Eileen Cook for the exceptionally fine swing beam and an unusual hay winch in her barn, located on Chinguacousy Road.

This barn is still in use. The second award went to Helen and John Mason for their barn complex on Heart Lake Road.

The Mason three-barn complex is now a rarity in Caledon.

The large central barn has a flagstone floor with a drainage channel and the barns also feature gableend cutouts of double hearts and Celtic crosses. The overall high quality of craftsmanship in both the Cook and Mason barns deserved this special recognition by the Caledon Heritage Foundation.