Barn At Clothall Bury, 20 Metres North East Of Farmhouse

Barn at Clothall Bury, situated 20 metres north-east of the farmhouse on Clothall Road.

This is a 16th-century timber-framed barn of considerable historical significance, built in part by reusing structural elements from an earlier barn. Tree-ring analysis (dendrochronology) has dated these reused timbers to 1367. The barn is partly clad in weatherboarding, with some sections infilled with brick and wattle and daub. Parts of the structure are encased and underbuild with 18th-century brickwork. The east wall is rendered for the most part. The building comprises 7 bays with gabled cart entrances in the third and sixth bays from the north, both without doors. Originally there was another entrance opposite the third bay, but this is now occupied by a late 19th-century threshing bay built in yellow brick with a slate-covered, gabled roof supported by king post trusses with angled struts. The threshing bay has small segmental-headed windows containing timber frames forming three tall lights — three on the north side and two on the south. A large cart entrance survives in the east gable end, though its doors are missing. A standard doorway is positioned on the south side, close to the barn.

The interior is substantially intact and reveals a sophisticated 16th-century timber-framed structure. The framing is tall-panelled, morticed and pegged work. An area of framing is missing at the north-west corner. The barn is aisled, with arcade posts supporting tie beams braced three ways to both the tie beams and arcade plate. The braces date mainly to the 16th century, though at least one is possibly from 1367. Aisle ties with down bracing connect the arcade posts to the aisle posts. Queen struts support roof purlins, with rafters apparently largely intact. The most significant interior feature is the quantity of reused timbers dated to 1367. These include at least pairs of arcade posts in the exterior, first and fourth cross frames from the north, the west arcade post in the second cross frame, and a section of arcade plate in the fifth bay from the north on the west side. Various other miscellaneous sections of framing exhibit redundant mortices suggesting long reuse. A blocked window opening survives in the east wall.

The barn stands adjacent to a former manor house dating from the 15th century (listed Grade II). To the south-east lies a Scheduled Ancient Monument, thought to be a manorial enclosure defined by a raised bank and ditch, containing a series of ponds known locally as fishponds. The presence of an ancient manor suggests that an earlier tithe barn stood on or near the present site, and the surviving elements dated to 1367 likely represent remnants of such a structure. An 18th-century stable block (listed Grade II) stands to the north-west. The Ordnance Survey map of 1882–4 shows that by this date Clothall Bury barn was part of a farmstead arranged around a large square yard, with a range attached to the north-west corner of the barn linking it to the east end of the stable block. This range has since been demolished. The threshing bay visible today was added to the east side of the barn between 1882 and 1899, as it does not appear on the 1882–4 map but is shown on the 1897–9 Ordnance Survey map.