Bentley Hall Barn, Bentley, Suffolk

Summary

Late C16 timber-framed barn.

Description

Late C16 timber-framed barn.

MATERIALS: timber frame with brick nogging and a roof covering of pantiles, probably dating to the mid-C19.

PLAN: the barn is situated approximately 90m north-east of Bentley Hall and has a long rectangular plan orientated north-south.

EXTERIOR: the barn is a single-phase oak-framed structure of sixteen approximately equal bays of 3m in length, and it extends to 54m in length by 7.5m in width. Its closely studded walls contain mid-rails and rise to a maximum height of 5.4m on a brick plinth of 1m which diminishes by 0.5m as the ground level increases to the north. The roof pitch of approximately 50 degrees is not sufficiently steep for thatch and was probably designed for peg-tiles. The external walls retain most of their original brick nogging and, where visible, the sides of the studs and posts are hewn concave. Where the external surfaces of the bricks have been protected by later extensions, notably at the northern end of the western elevation, they retain their original reddled finish (when the mortar is smoothed over the brickwork and incised with a trowel to create an illusion of regular joints: the surface was painted red and the bonding in white or black). The nogging incorporates a series of original ventilation slits formed by pairs of vertical bricks approximately 30cm below the roof-plates and in some cases below the mid-rails. These do not extend into the floored section at the southern end of the building.

On the western elevation are the fragmented remains of the mid-C19 sheds: a ruinous lean-to roof towards the north end, and the ruin of a brick wall extending westwards from the southern corner of the barn.

On the rear (eastern) elevation, the original framing of the two entrances in the second and eighth bays has been removed, probably when the two lean-to porches were added which is likely to have been in the C18. The porches were extensively remodelled in the C19 and the northern one enclosed to form a shed. The early C19 brick shed of similar width which adjoins the two northern bays probably continued along the entire rear elevation to hide them from the building’s outline. At the southern end, two of the mid-C19 shelter sheds have been amalgamated into one large space under a shallow pitched roof, clad in corrugated iron. The brickwork on the south wall has been largely rebuilt, and the east gable is of modern corrugated steel. This projection is of lesser interest than the C16 barn.

The brick gables of the barn are additions of the later C16 or early C17 which replaced the original timber-framed gables, leaving only their tie-beams and mid-rails intact (both with empty mortices for removed studs). The southern gable incorporates a first-floor window which was lacking from its timber-framed predecessor; and has substantial buttresses with tumbled in brickwork on either side of the wide double-leaf wooden door. Both gables are decorated with diaperwork and brick finials on stepped corbels, the finials seemingly rebuilt.

INTERIOR: the roof structure contains two tiers of clasped purlins with cranked wind-braces to the upper tier but not the lower, and externally trenched serpentine wall braces rise from the corner posts and certain storey posts to the common studs. The roof-plates contain edge-halved-and-bladed scarf joints of standard form, and the storey posts are fully jowled and arch-braced to the tie-beams.

The ceiling has been removed from the five southern bays which originally formed a single chamber on the upper storey, although the brick-nogged internal partition remains, as do two neatly chamfered binding joists with mortices for axial joists and the missing internal partition of the two ground-floor areas. The two doors in the rear (eastern) elevation providing access to these areas retain their original lintels and extend to 86cm in width by 2m in height – the jambs interrupting the brick plinths and sill beams.

In the northern two bays a ceiling was later inserted but only the substantial tie beams remain. The brick partition dividing this formerly floored section from the rest of the barn dates to the C18.

Various apertures have been made and blocked in the outer walls, and several arch braces were replaced by bolted knee-braces in the C19 but in general the C16 structure survives intact.

History

Until the late C20, Bentley Hall Barn was in the same ownership as Bentley Hall, approximately 90m to the south-west. The hall occupies the site of the medieval manor of Bentley which was held by the Tollemache family from around 1200. The Tollemaches prospered by marriage during the C16, serving on several occasions as High Sherriffs of both Suffolk and Norfolk, and moved their principal seat to Helmington Hall, around 10 miles to the north. The family was created Earls of Dysart during the C17. On the marriage of Lionel Tollemache, the first baronet, to Elizabeth, the daughter of Baron Cromwell in 1581, his mother Susanna adopted Bentley as her dower house and rebuilt the main hall. It seems likely that the barn formed part of this refurbishment, which created a typical Elizabethan ‘seigneurial landscape’ whereby the main residence was approached through a park by a broad avenue flanked by ostentatious outbuildings.

The original layout of the barn comprised sixteen bays, the eleven northern bays forming an open barn with twin threshing floors entered from the west, and the five southern bays separated by an internal partition and containing a fully-framed ceiling from the outset. The open barn extended to 35.8m and its doors lay in the third and eighth bays from its northern gable. Each western entrance was 3m in width by 4m in height and possessed a separate lintel 1m below the roof-plate, while the rear doors opposite were smaller in the usual manner of early barns and lay beneath the mid-rails. The evidence of their precise width was lost when the rear framing of each entrance bay was removed in the C18.

The five southern bays formed a single chamber of 17m in length on the upper storey but were divided into a pair of smaller areas on the ground floor: a space of three bays to the south and another of two bays to the north. The ceiling has been removed and there is no evidence of the original access to the chamber but it was probably accessed from within the building rather than via an external stair. It was lit by three windows in the western elevation and one in the rear, each of which contained three diamond mullions with internal shutters sliding in grooves in the roof-plates. Five original mullions still survive. The two ground-floor areas were entered by doors in the rear elevation and lit by at least three windows, each containing four diamond mullions in the front elevation (but not the rear). More windows or possibly an additional door may have existed in the two southernmost bays of the front elevation or the southern gable where the framing has been lost or disturbed.

The original purpose of the barn’s floored southern end is not entirely certain but the two ground-floor areas were probably designed as stables. The first-floor chamber could have served as a grain store or hay loft but may have operated as a ‘court hall’ like those identified on other high-status manorial sites in the region. Such spaces probably served many purposes. The various communal functions of domestic manorial halls in the Middle Ages, such as the holding of courts and harvest celebrations for tenants, were no longer welcome in the more private, well-furnished homes of Elizabethan England, and separate premises were built instead.

At the time of the Bentley tithe survey in 1841 the hall and farm were owned by Eliza Deane and tenanted by John Gosnall Esquire. A map of the estate drawn in 1844 shows the barn with a substantial structure projecting at right-angles from the northern end of its western elevation. This structure may have been a second barn but it is uncertain. The juxtaposition of the two ranges suggests they formed the surviving corner of an enclosed or partly enclosed ‘base court’ of service buildings in front of the hall. Base courts of this kind were standard features of high-status houses in the C16 and C17, often containing lodging ranges and riding stables in addition to barns, ‘court halls’ and agricultural stables.

The second barn was later removed, and a major refurbishment in the mid-C19 saw the addition of numerous shelter sheds and animal yards at right angles to both the eastern and western elevations, most of which have now collapsed. The roof was probably covered in its present pantiles at the same time to create a unified farm complex. Many local farmyards were rebuilt or refurbished in this way during the mid-C19 as cereal production was replaced by mixed-animal husbandry after the Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.

Reasons for Listing

The late C16 timber-framed barn at Bentley Hall is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is substantially complete, which is rare for farm buildings of this period, and retains a significant proportion of its original fabric;
* the plan form remains perfectly legible, illustrating its multi-functional purpose as a barn, stable and possible ‘court hall’, adding significantly to the increasing evidence that threshing barns originated from at least the C17 as combination barns;
* it is amongst the largest and most impressive Tudor structures in Britain and, although masonry barns of comparable scale survive, it may be the longest timber-framed barn of the period in the country;
* it is an unusual example of a barn with two tiers of clasped purlins in the roof structure and ventilation slots in the infill panels – important evidence of what may once have been a common practise in timber-framed barns;
* its high status is evident from the decorative treatment of the close studding and brick nogging, a striking use of local materials and techniques on a monumental scale.
Historic interest:

* it played an important part in the well-preserved ‘seigneurial landscape’ of Bentley Hall.

Group value:

* it forms a highly significant group with the nearby Bentley Hall and the probable former court house, both C15/ C16 in date and listed at Grade II*, which altogether are representative of traditional forms of construction and farming practice on a prestigious C16 estate.

External Links

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British Listed Buildings

History in Structure

Bentley Hall Barn

A Grade I Listed Building in Bentley, Suffolk

Coordinates

Summary

Description

History

Reasons for Listing

External Links

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