Description

WALTHAM ST LAWRENCE

1214/0/10008 PLOUGH LANE
07-OCT-09 WEST END
Barn 20m north-west of Bears Copse Cot
tages

GV II
Barn, C18 with later modifications.

MATERIALS: Timber frame on a red-brick base, with upper walls clad in overlapping sawn boards and a corrugated asbestos roof.

PLAN: The barn is of three bays aligned east-west, and is about 12m long by 5m wide. The entrance is placed centrally on the south side. There is evidence to suggest that the western bay was once partitioned off to its full height, and that there was once a loft in the eastern bay.

EXTERIOR: The superstructure of the barn rests on brick plinth walls about 1m in height. A Dutch door in the middle of the south flank forms the only entrance. The boarded upper walls are largely blind, save for a pair of small casement windows to the right of the door, further windows up in the gables, and a row of about 12 small square apertures with shutters that run the length of the north wall. The roof is half-hipped.

INTERIORS: The interior, now floored in concrete, displays the building's timber-frame construction. The upper walls are of close-studding, partly renewed, with cill plates (of which about one-third have been removed) set atop the cement-line plinth walls. The roof trusses are of queen-strut construction, with purlins clasped between collars and principals, and curved diagonal struts (about half surviving) supporting the tie-beams. Mortices on the tie-beam immediately west of the entrance and dowel-holes in the collar above indicate that this bay was once partitioned off; the tie-beam to the east of the entrance has mortices suggestive of a loft structure in the bay beyond.

HISTORY: The oldest of the present structures on the site are of the C17. The present barn was probably added to the complex in the first half of the C18, perhaps for crop storage or to house animals. Its damp location led to its lower walls being rebuilt in brick at some point in the C19. Later, during the C20, its roof was re-clad in corrugated asbestos.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The C18 barn 20m north of Bears Copse Cottages is listed for the following principal reasons:
* It is a pre-1750 example of a vernacular timber-framed barn with a significant proportion of its original structure intact;
* Although its fabric has been much renewed, its original structure remains basically intact, with enough evidence surviving to reconstruct the missing elements;
* It has group value with the larger barn to the south-west.

Reasons for Listing

The C18 barn 20m north of Bears Copse Cottages is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a pre-1750 example of a vernacular timber-framed barn with a significant proportion of its original structure intact;
* Although its fabric has been much renewed, there is enough evidence surviving to reconstruct the missing elements;
* It has group value with the larger barn to the south-west, which is also designated at Grade II.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672627

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)