A blaze has severely damaged part of rare breed farm situated on a 1500-acre historic country estate in Yorkshire.

Firefighters were called to the fire in a large barn on the Temple Newsam estate farm in Leeds – said to be the largest rare breed working farm in Europe – at around 6.45 pm on 23 January.

Around 80 rare breed cattle were rescued from the fire, according to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

At the height of the fire, up to 50 firefighters using five large jets and two ground monitors tackled the blaze, which extensively damaged two thirds of the 75m x 30m structure.

Crews were still on the scene a day and a half after the fire broke out, as restrictions on the site were preventing them from removing the still smouldering straw bales.

Station commander Andrew Alderson, who was in charge of the incident, said: “I can’t praise the firefighters enough for the job they did ensuring the cattle were removed from harm’s way. They also managed to contain the fire to one half of the building. It was a fantastic effort all round.”

No one was hurt in the blaze, the cause of which is being investigated.

See Yorkshire Post report and video