2 Barns Approx.30M North-East Of Fenn Farmhouse

966/0/10038 19-JUL-02

HITCHAM FENN LANE 2 barns approx.30m north-east of Fenn Farmhouse

GV II

2 attached barns. c.1600. Timber-framed and weatherboarded with corrugated iron roof. Partly brick in far north and south gable end walls. The 6-bay barn has door and window on west side, a door on south end and a porch and open extensions on east side. INTERIOR. Close studded frame. Most side walls have tension braces in one direction but not the other. High incidence of re-used timber studding but the wallplates are original. Bay 5 and 6 at the north end have evidence for an upper floor structure above stabling and truss 5 has mortices in the underside of the tie beam for studding. The studwork at the north end of the east wall was largely replaced in the early C19 but with the principal timbers in place. Bladed scarf joints in the wallplates. In bay 3 from the south is a threshing floor of on-edge white bricks and a substantial porch added early C19 on the east side with entirely re-used timbers. Roof of side purlin construction with principal rafters at half bay intervals. 2 tiers of butt purlins: the upper tier have fairly straight slender windbraces and collars at each principal rafter truss, high up. Archbrace tiebeams and open trusses. At the south end closed trusses have long tension braces. Attached to the north is the second lower barn of 5 bays with door on west wall and large porch on east wall with other extensions. INTERIOR. Full height studding in side walls, the heavy studs re-used from an earlier building together with many tiebeams and principal posts, possibly of c.1500. In the centre of the east wall, a large C19 porch constructed with re-used timbers and clasped purlin roof with threshing floor as with the other barn but all on a smaller scale. Windbraced clasped purlin main roof. These barns form a good farmstead group with Fenn farmhouse (qv) and cartshed approx 40m north of Fenn farmhouse (qv).