Once really a sty, Squire Barry of Fyling Hall is said to have been inspired by the classical architecture he had seen in the Mediterranean during his travels in the 1880s when building this home for his pigs.

An exercise in primitive Classicism by a well-travelled squire

Two pigs were the excuse for this exercise in primitive classicism, supposedly inspired by buildings seen by Squire Barry of Fyling Hall on his travels around the Mediterranean in the 1880s. By his use of timber columns, and his choice of inhabitants, he was perhaps trying to make a point about the roots of Classical architecture. The Pigsty makes for compact living accommodation on one floor with a fine view.

Views to the sea, and moors at your back

By the minimum of addition, and the insertion of glass here and there, we hope that we have made it acceptable (if not entirely draughtfree) to a higher breed of inhabitant; and although the living quarters will never be palatial, the view over hills and towards the sea at Robin Hood’s Bay from under the pediment is undoubtedly fit for an Empress, with wonderful Whitby and its Abbey only just up the coast. A few miles inland the green fields give way to the ling and heather of the North Yorkshire Moors.