Summary

Threshing barn, probably late C16, later adapted to animal use.

Description

Threshing barn, later partly adapted for animal use. Probably late C16. Roof structure above tie beam level probably replaced in the C19 and south-east outshot added circa 1900.

MATERIALS: timber-framed, clad in weatherboarding on stone footings, but the south end wall and outshots are of brick in English garden wall bond. Slate roof, gabled to north and hipped to south, possibly thatched originally.

PLAN: four bay barn, probably originally five bays, with a threshing bay in the penultimate bay from the north, with outshots added to north-east, south-east, south and south-west for animal use.

EXTERIOR: the west side has wooden ledged double doors to the cart entrance and there is a stable door to the south-west corner. On the east side the cart doors have been replaced in corrugated iron. The south side brick outshot has round-headed arched openings. Behind this the original south wall retains old weatherboarding.

INTERIOR: oak wall frame of good scantling including jowled bay posts with curved braces onto the tie beams. There is a midrail and good survival of curved braces above this, generally two to each bay, and studs. The south bay of the barn has a later inserted floor and the two curved braces to this truss were replaced as down rather than up braces. The roof structure above the tie beams and wall plates was replaced, probably in the C19, with angled queen struts, purlins, collar beams and rafters with a ridge-piece. The outshots retain some stall partitions and there is a wooden feed rack at the south end.

History

Walnuts Farm Barn is dated on architectural grounds to probably the late C16. It is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1875 as part of a farmyard to the south-east of Walnuts Farm, which also included a farm building to the north-east and a further one to the south-east. Its footprint had not altered by the Second Edition map of 1899. By the 1910 Third Edition map a small further addition had been added to the south-west end, possibly animal housing as there appear to be attached pens to the west, while a small projection to the north-east is also shown for the first time. None of the other farm buildings shown on the Ordnance Survey map now survive apart from some footings.

Reasons for Listing

Walnuts Farm Barn, a timber-framed barn dating probably from the late C16, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date: the wall frame is of probable late C16 construction although the roof structure above tie beam level was replaced in the C19;
* Fittings: the wooden stall partitions and feed rack are evidence of a change from arable farming to animal husbandry;
* Degree of intactness: the wall frame survives substantially intact;

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26676729

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.

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