Stable 5 Metres South East Of Lincolns

This is a timber-framed stable, likely originating as a medieval kitchen, dating to the 15th or early 16th century. It is situated 5 metres south-east of Lincolns. The building sits on a sloping ground level and has a rectangular plan. The west elevation, which is the front, features a ground-floor double door at the north end and two loft doors on the first floor, one central and one above the ground-floor doors. The east elevation has a single loft door centrally positioned.

The interior is divided into three unequal bays, being wider to the north and narrower to the south. The framework is heavy, with jowled posts. One open truss exhibits arched bracing, while the truss to the south features braces of bracket form. The studs are widely spaced. Architectural details include exterior arched bracing at the corners and a short, edge-halved and bridled scarf joint in the wall plate. Remnants of five diamond mullioned windows remain, three in the south bay and two in the north bay. The building is floored at a mid-height in two sections. A floor dating from approximately 1600 in the north section has a joist with a diminished haunched soffit tenon with lamb's tongue chamfer stops. The south section has a rebuilt floor of reused timber, with two principal sooted joists propped in place. The roof has been rebuilt as a simple side-purlin type, although traces of soot on several rafters suggest a former use involving fires. The original roof was of the crown post type, with mortise and peg-hole at the centre of the tie-beam, and hipped at both ends. Initially a domestic building, the structure originally had floors throughout and shutter grooves in all window openings. The southern short bay was of particular importance, featuring two upper and one lower window. The northern bay contained a ground-floor window and a small upper window, likely to illuminate a staircase entered from the original doorway. The central bay originally lacked windows but included dovetail joints suggesting the presence of an additional half-bay tie-beam for braces. Partition wattle grooves on the south open truss imply a timber hood or chimney of half-bay depth originally occupied the south half of the central bay. This would have created a one-and-a-half-bay working area to the north, with storage above, and a small, well-lit storeyed bay for habitation to the south. It’s conceivable that the timber hood did not extend across the full width, allowing first-floor access between the north and south ends. Reused timbers indicate a possible lintel beam, chamfered and with regular floor joists, and a sooted corner post on two adjacent surfaces. The building’s original function was likely as a kitchen within the farmyard, contemporary with the earliest phase of the main house, around 1500. It forms a notable group with Lincolns and the barn.