Former tithe barn at the Manor House

Former tithe barn at the Manor House

A barn of late 16th-century origins with later alterations, and extensive 21st-century repairs and alterations following a serious fire.

The building is constructed of timber, brick, stone and stone flags for the roof, and is arranged as a linear range aligned north-south.

The east wall now serves as the front. To the left, a low lean-to outshut (excluded from the listing) largely obscures the wall and provides an entrance to living accommodation in the former store extension at the southern end of the barn. Above the outshut are five visible courses of hand-made brick laid in stretcher bond, with a single header course. An additional lower course is concealed by continuous lead flashing. The header course begins at the left as the fourth visible course up, jumping to the fifth visible course at the right. At the extreme right, thirteen headers on their side occupy the fourth and fifth courses, with a single course of stretchers above.

To the right of the outshut are modern full-height barn doors hung from timber posts, and six bays of timber framing with brick nogging standing on a red-sandstone sill. Angled braces occur at both sides at the foot and head of the post to the right of the barn doors, and of the angle-post at the right, which is the only new member of this stretch of framing. The brick nogging is laid in stretcher bond using hand-made bricks. This section of wall is largely obscured by an attached carport with a duo-pitch roof, constructed from historic timbers with a blue slate roof. The barn has a graduated stone-flag roof with a lead-lined timber gutter on iron stays.

The left return wall of the entrance outshut is keyed into the south wall of the southern extension. This is constructed of hand-made bricks generally laid to a variant English Garden Wall bond with four stretcher courses between header courses. This wall is mostly obscured by an adjoining cottage to the south and glazed links between the two buildings (none included in the listing), but is visible at ground floor to the east and from within the links. The gable has chamfered timber verge plates supported by the purlins.

The west wall has a similar timber gutter to the east wall. At the right, the walling is the same as the south wall, but with different mortar joints above the heads of the ground-floor openings. Above this section are two modern conservation rooflights. At the right is a glazed doorway with a segmental head. To the left of this is a small window with a segmental head and modern frame, and further left a former doorway with a segmental head, now bricked in below a modern window. To the left of this the barn wall is timber-framed with brick nogging. There are fourteen posts, of which numbers 5, 7, 10 and 11 (counting from the left) are historic with fire damage, and the rest are modern. The mid-rails and braces of this wall are also historic with fire damage and some repairs; the sill and wall-plate are modern. The red-sandstone sill is in-situ. Angle braces occur at posts 1, 6 and 11. Timber-plank doors have been inserted in bays 4 and 9-10. Bays 6-7 show historic alterations including the removal of the sandstone sill and subsequent blocking in brick. An inserted window appears in bay 3 below the eaves. The brick nogging is of hand-made bricks in stretcher bond.

The north wall is entirely of modern timber-framing of six bays and three levels, standing on the in-situ red-sandstone sill with nogging of hand-made bricks in herring-bone pattern. The wall-plate, two purlins and ridge-purlin are all exposed. The purlins are entrenched in the queen-strut gable truss with collar. Between the struts the brick is laid in a checker pattern of alternating horizontal and vertical three-brick panels. Braces occur at all four corners.

Internally, in the northern section comprising the original timber-framed portion, the walls and roof are exposed. The southern gable truss is concealed by a later skin of brick but is exposed within the former store to the south, with modern wattle-and-daub infill. There are two central trusses, each with a king strut and two angle-struts. Both tie-beams are historic, with fire damage. All other roof timbers are modern, in oak. Below the northern central truss are stub walls at either end, each with a single post, two rails and angled braces. The southern central truss has longer stub walls of the same design but with two posts each. The southern bay of the timber-framed barn has inserted plasterboard partitions creating a utility room and small stairwell, approximately one metre south of the stub walls. On the eastern wall between the stub wall and the partition can be seen the burnt end of a timber embedded in the brickwork. Within the utility room the applied skin to the repaired timber-framed wall has herring-bone brickwork and applied timber fillets in imitation of timber framing.

The structural timbers are visible on the south side of this wall within the former store extension. The western end of the wall has a doorway into the stairwell, with five bays of timber framing to the right with stretcher-bond brick nogging. The red-sandstone sill is supported by concrete infill. The timber sill, mid-rail and sandstone sill all stop short of the eastern wall. There is a straight vertical joint with the eastern wall and the courses of it are misaligned with those of the timber-framed wall. The three outer walls of the former store are of exposed brick, retaining several burnt ends of embedded timber. The ceiling is supported by re-used beams which are roughly-shaped. The western one has stave holes. Both ends of the eastern beam, and the north end of the western beam, are supported by modern timber corbels attached to the north and south walls. The south wall has a doorway with an architrave of re-used timber, leading into the glazed link (not included) to Wisteria Cottage.

The modern stair leads to the first-floor store room, now converted to a bedroom and bathroom with modern fittings. All roof timbers are modern, as are the rooflights and the door to the glazed link. The bedroom is plastered, with an exposed fire-damaged horizontal timber in the south wall.