West Barn at Preston Hill is a Grade II listed building in the North Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 February 1988. Barn.

West Barn at Preston Hill

WRENN ID
haunted-doorway-dust
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
North Hertfordshire
Constituency
Hitchin MP: Alistair Strathern (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
8 February 1988
Type
Barn
OS grid reference
TL 179 239
Coordinates
51.90205, -0.28757
Source
Historic England listing

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

Description

The west barn at Preston Hill is a 17th-century structure. It features a timber frame resting on a low brick sill and is covered in dark weatherboarding with a steeply pitched roof that has been slated. The barn has three tall bays and faces east, with a lean-to porch in the middle. It includes step-jowled posts with straight braces supporting cambered tie-beams. The roof is constructed with clasped purlins, having two purlins on each slope, with the upper purlins supported by a high collar and the lower ones on straight inclined queen-posts. The gable ends have reverse curved wind-braces, and there are two collars on the gable trusses. Additionally, straight tension braces are present in the gables and end bays, and the wallplate over the posts features face-halved bladed scarf joints.

Local climate

West Barn at Preston Hill sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 82% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 76% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 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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