The Folly

Barn and cattle shed with eye-catcher, now a residence. The north-west former barn range is of late C18 or early C19 date. The attached eye-catcher with attached cattle shed is in Gothic style, probably mid C19, was certainly built by 1879 and may have been designed by George Cheeseman Senior (1789-1866) or George Cheeseman Junior (1814-82), most probably for the younger George Grantham of Barcombe Place.

MATERIALS: flint with red brick dressings and lacing courses with some stone quoins; also some brickwork. The roof is tiled.

PLAN: a five bay barn aligned north-east to south-west with an eye-catcher added onto its south-west end and a single storey former cattle shed of similar date facing south-east.

EXTERIOR: the south-west elevation has at the north end a tall castellated structure with a recessed centre decorated with three stone shields, and a central four-centred arch in Roman cement with shield corbels and a C21 glazed door. The projecting, flanking square corner towers have blocked arrow-slit windows on two floors. The return of the north tower also has arrow-slit windows. The north tower projects higher than the central part with a series of stone corbels. The south tower was lower and designed to appear ruined. Attached at the north end is a single storey stone building with a projecting north-west wall with stone quoins and an arrow-slit window. The south-west wall is built of stone with four stone buttresses and a wooden stable door and has a further single storey gabled stone projection towards the south-west end followed by a brick end in Sussex bond.

The north-west elevation consists mainly of the flint former barn with brick lacing course and quoins. There is a central cart entrance, now glazed, and two large brick arches, formerly blocked in brickwork, but now glazed.

The south-east side of the former barn is of flint with brick end quoins and two lacing courses. The central cart entrance is glazed. Three windows with brick surrounds have been incorporated into the lower part of the walls.

The north-east side of the single storey former cattle stalls is of red brick in English bond with a projecting early C21 porch at the northern end where there are three C21 windows and a stable door. The southern end has a stone gable and ends in red brick.

INTERIOR: the former barn has bay posts with a curved profile, the trusses have angled queen struts and collar beams and the roof has staggered purlins and a ridge-piece.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the act') it is declared that the early C21 internal room partitioning and staircase are not of special architectural or historic interest.