A barn on Walnut Hill Road in Shapleigh was a total loss after a fire Friday night.

The fire was reported about 6:30 p.m., and firefighters found the barn fully ablaze when they arrived, said Kevin Romano, a firefighter/paramedic with the Shapleigh Fire Department.

Romano said the barn, which he estimated dates to the 1800s, was destroyed. A farmhouse, equally old and located about 30 feet away, was not damaged.

No one was injured, Romano said, but some chickens in the barn died.

He said the fire was started by a heat lamp in the barn that was keeping the chickens warm.