Storage Barn, Home Farm, Uppark, Harting, West Sussex

Summary

A timber-framed and masonry barn of around the late C18, altered to the rear in the C19.

Description

A timber-framed and masonry barn of around the late C18, altered to the rear in the C19.

MATERIALS: flint and stone walls with brick dressings, built around a timber frame.

PLAN: it consists of a large open space to the south side and an aisle to the rear, which includes a heated room at the north-east corner.

EXTERIOR: it is aligned east-west and is single storey under a tall, half-hipped roof. The west and south walls are of flint with brown and grey brick dressings. The east wall is similar but mainly constructed of coursed stone blocks. The south wall has two door openings and the bricks forming the south-east quoin appear to be rounded. The stonework of the east wall is topped by a cornice of three brick courses. It has a high-set opening to the north side with a planked door and an infilled, segmentally-headed door opening towards the centre. The north wall has been inserted (previously open-sided) and is constructed of brown brick laid in English garden wall bond. It has a 15-pane window to the left-side and two door openings with planked doors. The west wall is constructed of coursed, knapped flint.

INTERIOR: the main space has a dirt floor and a three-bay timber frame supported on concrete and brick pads and a brick plinth to the north side which runs east to west. Each post and truss frame has jowelled main posts supporting a tie beam, which along with the mid rail and wall plate is supported by straight braces. Above the tie beams, diagonal struts rise to the principal rafters which are joined by a collar. Hip and common rafters are supported by staggered purlins and meet at a ridge board. A number of later timbers have been added for stability and within the rear aisle some of the rafters are sawn cut. To the north side the frame is partially clad with rough-cut boards and at the east end there is a small room which has a brick hearth with timber cupboard to the side and the remains of a wattle and daub ceiling.

History

The storage barn appears on an unsigned plan of Uppark, produced around 1760, which may show buildings in existence or as proposed at that time. The north side was later infilled in brick under a catslide roof (now tin-clad) including the addition of a small, heated room. The tiles have been removed from the main roof exposing the timber roof structure, which may have been relocated from another building, or constructed in-situ.

The wider farmstead is of the loose courtyard type, surrounded by a boundary wall. It includes another barn, a cart shed, brew house and a later milking parlour. This arrangement is characterised by working buildings arranged around one or more yards and is the dominant farmstead type in the south-east of England. These plans usually reflect a long process of piecemeal development with buildings of different dates, designs and materials, which may be reflected at Uppark in the use of brick, flint and chalk.

At Uppark, the improvements would have been influenced by the evolution of the estate, particularly on change of ownership. Construction of the current Uppark House is thought to have started around 1688 and was completed by the second half of 1695. An engraving by Jan Kip of around 1700, does not show any farm buildings in the location of Home Farm. Following acquisition of the estate by Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh and his new wife, Sarah Lethieullier, the property underwent major renovation and development in the period from 1747 until 1774. Contemporary records, and a plan suggest that the earliest Home Farm buildings were constructed around this time. A mid-C19 population survey records the Uppark Estate as made up of 5149 acres and employing 203 labourers.

In a more general sense, the period between 1790 to 1880 was an important period of farm building development, enabled by the widespread adoption of improved grasses and winter feed-crops. Flint combined with brick for quoins, dressings to windows and as banding within the flintwork is particularly characteristic of the C18 and early C19.

Reasons for Listing

The Storage Barn, a timber-framed and masonry barn of around the late C18, altered to the rear in the C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a good example of a later C18 agricultural barn of considered design, which although altered, retains a significant proportion of its pre-1850 fabric;

* for the well-built elevations of flint and coursed stone walls with brown and grey brick dressings and the good-quality timber frame.

Historic interest:

* as part of the extension and modernisation of farming practice at the Uppark Estate, around the time of what is internationally recognised as the most important period of farm building development in England.

Group value:

* with the speical historic faric of the park within which it is located, the other significant buildings within the farmstead, the dairy and the stables and Uppark house.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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