North Barn at Upper Ibthorpe Farm, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire

Summary

The North Barn, Upper Ibthorpe Farm, incorporating C17 and later fabric.

Description

The North Barn, Upper Ibthorpe Farm, incorporating C17 and later fabric.

MATERIALS: framed in oak, and clad in weatherboarding and corrugated sheeting.

PLAN: the barn stands at the north of the loose courtyard to the north of the building now known as Upper Ibthorpe Farmhouse. It is a rectangular range orientated east-west, with a porch on the south side, abutting a later building.

ELEVATIONS: the barn is four and a half bays long, with a pitched roof with a hip above the half-bay on the east end, and a half hip to the west. It retains some horizontal weatherboarding beneath the eaves, and is elsewhere clad in corrugated metal sheeting, including on the roof. On the north elevation the sides of the second and third bay are open. The flat-roofed porch projects from the third bay on the south elevation.

INTERIORS: the timber frame is exposed internally; the principal structure consists of four queen post trusses with braces and clasped purlins. The wall framing is of a separate phase of construction to the principal frame, and is made up of slender studs and shores; the style of the scantling varies substantially, and includes some very irregular timbers. The westernmost bay and the half bay on the east appear to post-date the three bays in-between, and have ridge pieces at the apex of the roof. Rafters vary stylistically and in their patina; in some bays they align with the peg holes on the purlins.

The barn has a partition internally dividing it into two bays at the east, and two and half bays at the west. The porch projects south from the third bay. There are fragments of a brick threshing floor in the western bays.

History

Upper Ibthorpe Farm is located on the northern edge of the small village of Ibthorpe. The first known map evidence for the farmstead is the Original Series 1inch Ordnance Survey map of 1817. The Tithe map dates from 1838 and shows the group more clearly: three barns and a granary in a loose courtyard plan to the north, and the former farmhouse to the south.

The north barn, on the 1838 map, is depicted without a porch; the 1873, 1895 and 1910 Ordnance Survey maps show it with its present footprint, and a structure linking it to the west barn, to the south-west.

The barn, once used for threshing, contains elements of a C17 timber frame: the posts and tie beams in the second, third and fourth bays, and the wall plates in the second and fourth bays. The framing of the outer bays is later, and there are inconsistencies in the weight, style and patina of timbers. The wall framing is characteristic of the C18. The surviving C17 fabric suggests that the barn was originally three bays, and has been extended on either end. It is possible that the barn is not in its original position: the C17 framing has evidence of having had a mid-rail with studs above and below, and the complete absence of these suggests that it may have been dismantled and rebuilt: it seems improbable that such substantial wall framing would have been replaced by the existing scantling timbers, unless it had been re-erected. The plinth, where it survives, is certainly later than C17. The pitched roof to the porch has been removed.

The granary shown on the early maps was demolished in the 1970s, and the east barn was replaced with a modern structure. The original farmhouse was replaced in the late C19 by a pair of farm labourer's cottages. The C18 west barn and mid-C19 cart sheds, both altered, are extant.

Reasons for Listing

The North Barn at Upper Ibthorpe Farm is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* retaining a significant proportion of pre-1840 fabric, including substantial elements of a C17 timber-framed barn, with later additional bays and wall framing;

* a good representation of a modest, late-C18-early-C19 agricultural building.

External Links

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