Barn Approximately 25 Metres West of Nortofts Farmhouse is a Grade II* listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 December 1967. A Late Medieval Barn.

Barn Approximately 25 Metres West of Nortofts Farmhouse

WRENN ID
dark-belfry-winter
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Braintree
Constituency
Braintree MP: Sir James Cleverly (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
21 December 1967
Type
Barn
Period
Late Medieval
OS grid reference
TL 704 315
Coordinates
51.95658, 0.47963
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

This building is a barn located approximately 25 metres west of Nortofts Farmhouse. It dates from the late 16th century and has been altered in the 17th and 20th centuries. The barn is timber framed, mostly plastered, with some sections weatherboarded, and it is roofed with plastic-coated corrugated iron. It consists of five bays aligned northwest to southeast, with two aisles. There is a 17th-century midstrey on the northeast side.

The original brick plinth is made of red brick in English bond, approximately 1 metre high on the southwest side where the land slopes down to a ditch, and 0.5 metre high and plastered on the northeast side, with the brick exposed below all the arcade posts. The barn features jowled posts, edge-halved and bridled scarfs in the wallplates and arcade plates, and heavy studding with curved braces that are trenched to the outside. There are arched braces to the tiebeams and arcade plates, and straight raking shores to the arcade posts. The assembly at the eaves is typical, and it has a clasped purlin roof with serpentine wind bracing, which is a rare feature.

The barn was damaged by a whirlwind in 1982, which led to the removal of the tiles and their replacement with the current roof cladding, but the frame remained undamaged. This barn is noted for having an exceptionally complete frame of high quality and is the only surviving building of a former manorial complex.

Local climate

Barn Approximately 25 Metres West of Nortofts Farmhouse sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 77% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 58% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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