Barn And Attached Stable On East Side Of Sopwell Home Farm

The barn and attached stable, located on the east side of Sopwell Home Farm, likely date from the first half of the 18th century. The structure is timber-framed with weatherboard cladding resting on brick plinths, while the right wall of the barn is constructed of red-brown brick in Flemish bond. It features plain tile roofs. The barn has three bays, with a central cart entry, and the lower three-bay stable on the left, which was probably originally a cowhouse. The front of the barn is obscured by a 20th-century covered yard that is not of special interest. The brick gable wall includes an eaves band and a stepped gable with brick-on-edge coping at the raised verge. The stable has a central stable door flanked by slatted windows, although most of the slats have been removed.

Inside the barn, there is a rear winnowing door opposite the cart entry that is boarded across. The frame consists of large scantling unjowelled posts with chamfered arch braces supporting the tie-beam, queen struts, clasped purlins, old rafters, and a later plank ridge-piece. The sole plate, mid-rails, replacement studs, and diagonal braces are also present, with the brick wall showing the position of former braces. The stable features unjowelled posts with long arched braces to the wall-plates and tie-beams, along with queen struts, clasped purlins, and old rafters. At the junction with the barn, there is a collared queen post truss. The left and front walls of the stable have 19th-century studding and braces. The framing of the barn shares similarities with that of the barn at Praewood Farm on Hemel Hempstead Road.