Barn at Copdock Hall

Barn at Copdock Hall

A substantial threshing barn of late 16th-century date, altered and extended over subsequent centuries, and until recently in agricultural use.

The barn is built of hand-made brick laid to English bond, incorporating diamond-patterned diaper work in vitrified header bricks throughout the external elevations. A brick plinth with an upper course of moulded brick headers runs around the building. The structure has crow-stepped gables and a slate roof covering, presumed to be a 19th-century replacement of an earlier tile or thatch covering.

The building is linear in form, aligned north-south, measuring 38 metres long and 8 metres wide. It has projecting midstreys to the east and west side walls and substantial brick raking buttresses to the east elevation. The interior is a single uninterrupted space with no internal partitions or loft floors.

The barn contains ten roof bays with half-bays at each end between the gable walls and the end tie beams. Original full-height threshing doorways survive to bays three and seven. The doorway to the west side at bay seven is now enclosed within a gabled midstrey added in the 17th century, with side walls built against and partially obscuring original breather openings. The doorway to bay three on the same elevation has been infilled but retains an original moulded brick surround interrupting the original brick plinth.

The east side wall and south gable, largely unobscured by later additions, incorporate external diaper work patterning and tiered breather openings. These openings are staggered rather than stacked, with each breather set within brickwork recessed behind a larger exterior opening. Some openings at the north end of the east elevation are blocked. Three substantial brick raking buttresses to this elevation—one at either end and a third immediately north of the original rear doorway to bay seven—are later additions, presumably intended to prevent movement evident in cracked brickwork in the south-east corner. They obscure sections of the diaper patterning. The lean-to midstrey to bay three is also an addition, appearing to be of 19th-century date, with vertically-boarded double doors extending to eaves level. Further right is an inserted single doorway with a 19th-century split stable door.

The south gable displays diaper work patterning throughout and incorporates five breather openings in staggered formation in the lower part of the wall. The plinth reflects the sloping nature of the site, which may account for the need to buttress the east wall and the presence of an irregularly-shaped vertical timber fixed to the right-hand side of the gable wall.

The west elevation is largely obscured by lean-to additions either side of the 17th-century midstrey. The addition to the right (south) is of 20th-century date with a shallow-pitched roof extending to the sills of the upper tier of breathers. The midstrey has a horizontally-boarded gable and full-height ledged, braced and vertically-boarded doors. To the left is a two-bay cart hovel with a slate roof covering and a central column supported on a padstone. Within the hovel the breathers to the barn and midstrey walls are visible, and there is an inscribed plaque just below eaves level, now over-painted and illegible. The remaining part of the west wall is enclosed within a late 20th-century shed. Within this enclosed area are two openings: one to the right is an original full-height double doorway with a moulded brick surround, and to the left is an inserted single doorway with a split stable door. Between the two openings are three tiers of original breathers. The lower part of the north gable is similarly enclosed within a full-width, open-fronted lean-to but retains its plinth and breather detailing. The gable apex incorporates a circular opening thought to be an owl hole.

Interior

The interior has been stripped of any original or inserted partitions or loft floors, with concrete surfacing to the floor. The pattern of breather openings is visible throughout the interior, and the interior brick wall surfaces retain no added material. Opposed full-height openings to bay three correspond to the midstrey added to the east elevation and the blocked original doorway enclosed within the 20th-century shed on the west elevation. The east wall opening has a substantial timber casing and a shallow timber lintel. The blocked west doorway has a more substantial timber surround and lintel corresponding closely to the west wall doorway to bay seven.

The roof structure appears almost entirely unaltered and is presumed original to the barn. The ten roof bays are defined by principal rafters with collars supporting two tiers of butt purlins, the upper tier with cranked windbraces. Each roof bay contains five pairs of common rafters. Eleven tie beams are separate from and not aligned with the principal rafters but appear to be dovetail-jointed onto the wall plates.