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Side-Hill Barns
English derived settlers did contribute an English Banked barn which has been given the designation of Side-Hill barn (Fink 1987, 137-150). In almost every particular the Side-Hill barn resembles the German Bank barn. It is two and a half stories high, and partially excavated into a hill slope so that both floors are entered directly, the lower floor from downslope and the upper from upslope. The barn has inaccessible-from the-outside threshing doors, and performs basically the same agricultural functions as the German Bank barn. It is not easily confused with the German Bank barn because it does not have an overhanging forebay. Its original antecedents are to be found in northwestern England (Brunshill 1978, 82-86; Hughes 1985, 173-174). In humid England, this barn almost always survives only in stone or brick construction. In Ohio, the Side-Hill barn has a stone foundation, but otherwise is in wooden construction.

The axis of the Side-Hill barn lies along the slope of the land. A few somewhat similar, two and a half story barns have their long sides athwart the slope and doors are on the gable ends. These barns seem to have originated near the Welsh-England border area. They have been given the designation of Welsh Gable-Entry barns (Noble and Cleek 1995, 84). In any event, they represent a small minority of banked barns in both the British Isles (Williams 1986, 167-170) and even less in Ohio.

All of these log and timber frame barns together represent the golden age of Ohio barn buildings. As the 19th century waned, more and more of the new barns were constructed of sawn lumber rather than log or hewn timber. Also, the types of barns changed because agriculture was changing, becoming more specialized. Farming in northwestern Ohio steadily focused on cash grain operations and livestock feeding.