Tithe Barn, east of number 14 (The Old Rectory)

Tithe Barn, east of number 14 (The Old Rectory)

A small timber-framed aisled barn, believed to date to the late 15th or early 16th century, with 18th and 19th century alterations. It stands near the medieval Church of All Saints, the Old Rectory, and the Shrunken Medieval Settlement of Landbeach, with which the barn was historically associated.

The building is timber-framed, with main structural timbers mostly of elm, a feathered and lapped weather-boarded exterior, and a recently renewed thatch covering (2019). The framing rises from a low brick plinth.

The barn is a double-aisled structure aligned north-south, with a return aisle at the northern end. The roof structure is hipped at the north end and half-hipped to the south. The building is three bays in length. Full-height midstrey doorways to the central bay occur on both the east and west elevations, each with a raised head beam for the doorway hood and vertically boarded double doors. The west side door opening has a 19th century plank lift or threshold to retain threshed grain, with grooves for a similar fitting in the east door frame. An inserted single doorway with a vertically boarded door on the east side of the south bay is possibly linked to its adaptation for use as a granary.

The interior comprises three double-aisled bays with a return aisle at the north end. The central threshing bay is slightly wider than the flanking bays. The aisle arcades are formed of tall jowelled posts, from which extend curved longitudinal and transverse braces to adjacent tie-beams and arcade plates. The aisle posts stand on short sill-plates extending from the side walls and support horizontal arcade plates which link the posts to provide longitudinal stiffening for the barn frame as well as carrying roof rafters. Short horizontal aisle ties extend from the arcade plates to short posts within the barn side walls, and from these posts long diagonal passing braces rise past the aisle ties to the arcade posts. Three of the four arcade cross frames are free-standing, whilst that to the south end forms part of the present barn end wall. Repairs carried out in 2019 revealed that the frame has been truncated at this end, and the building was originally at least one bay longer.

The outer walls comprise wall posts and widely-spaced studs mortised into wall and sill-plates. The roof structure is much altered, with short lapped rafters rather than single timbers extending from eaves to ridge, later thin side purlins, collars and queen struts often nail-fixed rather than pegged, and numerous areas of visible repair using metal plates and bolts to support decayed timber sections.

The central threshing bay has brick flooring, which is also carried into the north bay. The south bay is thought to have been adapted for use as a granary in the 18th or early 19th century and has a boarded floor, boarded wall surfaces, and a low boarded cross frame forming a barrier between the grain storage area and the threshing bay.