East Wantley Barn, Storrington and Sullington, West Sussex

Summary

Former threshing barn to East Wantley farm, built in around the latter half of the C17, with a late-C19 or early-C20 former coach or cart house wing added to the east; the building was converted into a dwelling in 2007.

Description

MATERIALS: the barn is constructed of an oak timber frame with brick-infill panels, standing on a stone and brick plinth; the external walls are partially clad in weatherboarding and it is topped by a tile roof. The coach or cart house-wing is brick with a slate roof.

PLAN: the barn is on an east-west axis, and has five bays and an L-shaped footprint including an outshut on the north elevation; at the east end is the later coach-house cross wing.

EXTERIOR: the two-storey barn is topped by a half-hipped tile roof. The walls are timber-frame with brick infill panels on a brick and stone plinth. They are partially clad in waney-edge weather boarding. Thee windows and doors all date to the early C21. At the centre of the north and south elevations are large openings on either side of the barn which are most likely the location of the original threshing door openings. The northern opening has been infilled with a glazed C21 timber-frame entrance; the southern opening has a C21 pitched-roof, two-storey glazed timber-frame entrance porch. At the west end of the north elevation is a lean-to with a catslide roof. Attached at the east end is a late-C19 or early-C20 coach house. It is a single-storey wing built in brick laid in Flemish-bond and topped by a slate, pitched roof. The windows and east-side porch entrance in this wing also date to the early C21. Within the north gable end is a large former opening, framed by timber, which has been infilled with early-C21 brickwork and windows.

INTERIOR: the conversion of the barn in the early-C21 has led to the subdivision of part of the internal space. The east end of the building remains open to the roof, while in the west end partitions and a mezzanine level have been inserted. Various modern finishes have been applied including plaster, skirting and flooring. Much of the barn’s original timber-frame construction survives and is exposed. The principal gunstock-jowled posts support the wall plates and tie beams, and are reinforced by arched braces. The wall frame retains studding, sill beams, mid rails, and straight wind braces. The building is topped by a raked queen-post roof with staggered butt purlins. Some carpenter’s marks are apparent on timbers. A modern doorway in the main barn’s east end, located at the top of a set of steps, leads into the coach-house wing which has been converted into a kitchen. Most of the visible building fabric here relates to the early-C21 conversion, apart from the exposed timber of the queen strut roof which has been retained.

History

East Wantley Barn is one of several buildings associated with East Wantley farm, located in the parish of Storrington and Sullington. The farm was originally named 'Wantley', derived from John Wantele who lived in the locality in the 1400s. Since at least the mid-C16 the site has been referred to as East Wantley farm when it was in the ownership of the Shelly family. The principal dwelling to the farm, East Wantley House (Grade II) is an early-C17 L-shaped house, built reusing timbers in the roof believed to be from an earlier house on the site.

Evidence from the barn’s surviving timber frame indicates that it was first built between 1650 and 1700. An estate map of 1707 shows a group of buildings at East Wantley including the barn. Also depicted is the main house and granary (both still extant), and another building to the south-west (no longer extant). By the latter half of the C19 further buildings had been added to the farmstead. In the late C19 or early C20 a coach or cart house cross wing was added to the east end of the barn. In 2007 the barn, along with the attached wing, was converted into a separate dwelling based on a design by Faultless and Son of Hampshire; the conversion retainined much of the timber-frame structure.

Reasons for Listing

East Wantley Barn, Storrington and Sullington, Horsham, West Sussex, a former C17 barn with a later wing, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it retains a high proportion of its good-quality oak-timber frame;

* although it has recently been modified in its conversion to a domestic dwelling, the alterations have not unduly affected the legibility of its historic agricultural character or form.

Historic interest:

* it is a good representation of a C17 former threshing barn with a later addition, and continues to illustrate historic regional building traditions.

Group value:

* it has a historic functional association with the adjacent farmhouse, East Wantley House (Grade II).

External Links

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.