Stable at High Trees Farm

Stable built in the mid-C19.

MATERIALS: the stable has a timber frame clad in weatherboarding on a brick plinth with a corrugated-iron roof covering. The adjoining tack room is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, and the chaff house of flint rubble and red brick laid in stretcher bond with weatherboarding along the top. Both have a corrugated iron roof covering.

PLAN: the stable is located at the north-west of the farmstead. It has a rectangular plan, aligned north-east/south-west, with an adjoining tack room and chaff house on the north-east corner. This is attached to the threshing barn which is separately listed at Grade II.

EXTERIOR: the single-storey, two-bay stable has a steeply-pitched roof. It has door openings in the centre of the principal south-east elevation and on the south-west gable end, above which is a loft hatch with a plank and batten door with strap hinges. A weather vane surmounts the roof at the south-western end. The small tack room projects on the right side of the central door opening, just under the eaves. It has a shallow lean-to roof and a small window in a wooden frame, right of centre. Adjoining this on the north-east gable end is a three-bay, single-storey structure with a lean-to roof angled the opposite way to that of the tack room. The small brick and flint chaff house occupying the first bay has a square louvred opening. The brickwork shows signs of repair. The second and third bays are open-sided with two timber posts supporting the roof.

INTERIOR: the floor is laid in yellow brick. Wooden hayracks and mangers survive along the long north-west wall, as does a wooden stall division at the north-east end. The collar-truss roof has clasped purlins and tie beams strengthened by strap hinges, and the closely spaced studs at the gable ends have primary down bracing. The tack room retains a plank and batten door with strap hinges and latch, and two long wooden pegs on a batten mounted on the wall. Adjoining the tack room on the south-west side is a small square room with a sunken floor, possibly created for storage. An internal plank and batten door on the north-east gable end leads into the chaff house which has a partition of timber studs and weatherboarding separating it from the two open-sided bays. These have a high brick plinth with timber studs above, clad in weatherboarding.