The Big Black Barn At Hunsdon Lodge Farm 500 Metres Along Track

The Big Black Barn at Hunsdon Lodge Farm is a Grade II* listed building located 500 metres along the track from Drury Lane in Hunsdon. This structure dates back to the 16th century and was altered into a barn in the 18th century. It features a timber frame and is weatherboarded, topped with a steep gabled roof made of old red tiles. The barn has double doors on the east side and stands tall without aisles, previously serving as a significant two-storey domestic building measuring approximately 20 by 8 metres.

Originally an eight-bay structure, it was modified to create two wider bays from four, leaving one original bay at the south end and three at the north end. The barn is supported by queen post trusses with two butt purlins aligned with each slope, and it includes deep paired arched wind braces to the lower purlin. The posts are large, squared, and chamfered, featuring deep arched braces connecting to the tie beams. There are remnants of serpentine tension bracing in the walls and rebated studs for upper windows. The tie beams contain mortices that suggest the presence of an original ceiling or attic floor. All posts have paired vertical mortices and a cut-back ledge for upper floor beams, along with a mortice for a brace underneath.

This building was likely part of Hunsdon Lodge, a royal hunting lodge noted in the Tudor period. It retains the remains of an early two-storey timber-framed house of exceptional size and quality, contributing to the picturesque group of tarred farm buildings at Hunsdon Lodge Farm.